Old and New Attack
by Miz636
Summary: What happens when a group of bridkids that are close to the Flock are captured by Itex all the way in Australia and the Flock gets a message via Angel about it? Will they go save them? Will they get themselves captured? Is there a mystery from Itex?
1. Introduction

_**This is a sequel, so if you haven't read my story **__**Old and New Collide**__** yet, then please it before reading this because otherwise some of what is in here won't make sense. If you are a reader that has read it or are one of my original readers from when I first wrote **__**Old and New Collide**__**, then read on and enjoy!**_

**Chapter One: Introduction**

Hi. My name is Max. No, I'm not the Max you all are probably thinking about, thought I have met her and her Flock. I'm twenty-one, unlike her because she's fifteen. I lead a Flock too. Mine is my eighteen-year-old brother Matthew, our nineteen-year-old blind boy Icarus (Ic), the thirteen-year-old twins Wendy and Peter, and my own ten-year-old twins Ozymandias (Ozy) and Frances Jane (Frannie).

We are exactly like the younger Flock; created by the School, tortured by the School, want Itex gone, and we have wings too. The only big difference is that only my two kids, Ozy and Frannie, have powers; the rest of us don't.

My Flock and I are in Australia, taking out branches of Itex here while Max and her Flock destroy North American branches. We separated three months ago and haven't talked since, which is a good thing because it means none of us are in trouble. I don't know how they are doing because of that, but my Flock and I have taken out thirteen branches of Itex since we got to Australia.

We have a map of the world with every branch of Itex on it and it shows only twenty-three branches of Itex in Australia and New Zealand combined. Only five are on New Zealand so we only have five more to go here in Australia.

After those ten we are going to Asia while the other Flock goes to South America, and both only have three branches each. Then we will meet up in Europe to finish Itex for good. That is… unless something happens and our Flocks need to combine again, but that's only in an emergency. We want this to go without any problems.

I'm brought back to reality with Matthew asking me, "Max? It's getting late. I think it's time to call it a day and find a place to stay and refresh our food supply."

I look over at my brother and nod before looking towards the ground again for a place to stay. I see a town to our west a little and point it out to everyone. We head in that direction for five minutes before we dive down, land, and tuck in our wings.

We find the nearest hotel and check in before going out to the supermarket and restocking our backpacks with food and medical things. Icarus and Matthew also grab supplies to make bombs, as Iggy and Gazzy had taught them back in America.

We go back to the hotel, eat dinner in the restaurant, and go to bed. I thought we would be able to sleep in our two rooms in peace, but Itex has a different plan. I hear a scream from next door which makes me bolt out of bed and grab all of the backpacks. I see Frannie and Wendy have jumped out of bed too.

We go next door and open the door with the spare keycard I have, walking right into a trap. The boys are all being held by Erasers from behind. Just as we move to help them, Erasers grab us as well. Suddenly, I feel a sharp prick before I'm knocked unconscious.

The last thing I saw was all of my Flock being knocked unconscious as well…

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**I'm sorry those of you who want the next chapter soon. I have midterms coming up in two classes just after winter break ends, andI really have to study. These courses and grades count for high school, so I don't want bad grades on them really. Now, I'm telling you now that my annoying brain here might get busy and make me write during the last couple of weeks of the quarter, so when midterms are over and I'm posting again, I'll probably have 5 or 6 chapters finished against my will. Please be patient and you'll be rewarded.**

**Now... Please Review and tell me what you think of the Intro to this sequel. Just like in my last story, ANYONE can Review, so Please Review by clicking the button below. Thanks!**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	2. A Bad Message

**I'm only saying one thing right now: This story will be changing POVs almost every chapter for a little while, but I will make it obvious when I do.**

**Chapter Two: A Bad Message**

**Angel's POV **

I look up at Max as we fly towards Pennsylvania, where the next branch of Itex she wants to take out is. She is trying to take out as many as she can, and she even thinks here and there about the reason. She's doing this so that we can have more branches taken out over the other Flock and get to Europe sooner. I mentally shake my head at her jealousy of the other Flock just because she thinks we should be better at this because we have been doing it longer.

I real wish I could tell her how the other Flock is going, but Ozy and I don't want to give away the fact we can talk anywhere in the world yet. We are very far ahead of them with twenty-four branches taken out and only sixteen more to go. Then we have those three in South America while the other Flock has eleven in Asia. We will get to Europe first unless something happens to either Flock.

I look up then to see that the sun is going to set soon and I guess Max just noticed too because she says, "Guys, start looking for a place to land and spend the night."

Everyone starts to look down and forward, but I look down and back slightly. I see a forest surrounding a small town that we had just passed and point it out to everyone. They all look there and smile at me for finding it so quickly.

We all tuck in our wings and dive towards the edge of the woods, letting out our wings just before we hit the ground. We land, tuck in our wings, and pull on our windbreakers. Max goes out in front and leads us into town; to find a place to eat and a supermarket most likely.

I guessed correctly because the first thing we do is find the supermarket and buy a huge bunch of food using Max's Max Ride card. We also find a small mall where Max gets us all new clothes. She chooses Nudge's; much to Nudge's annoyance. Then she takes us out to find a restaurant instead of eating in the trees as we have been lately.

We find a pizza place that has this awesome pizza that's really big. They might be thin, but they are delicious and filling enough for us. We each get three, and no one even asks us questions about the amount of pizza we are getting! I guess they are used to people getting lots because they love it so much.

When we have to leave, we are all full and ready to sleep. We get to the forest and move in enough so that we won't be seen and then climb up the trees to find branches to sleep on. We each take out our blankets and cover our branches with them before we stack fists. I hear Nudge and Gazzy fall asleep, then Iggy, and before I hear Max and Fang (who is on watch) fall asleep, I'm asleep.

I wake up to the smell or bacon and eggs over where Iggy is. I guess he made a fire and started cooking. Max tells me to go and get breakfast so I do. The scrambled eggs are nice and soft while the bacon is crunchy. Before too long, everyone is full and it's all gone.

"Only one more hour before we get to the Pennsylvania-Ohio border." Max says, filling us in on the details we need to know. "Then only forty-five minutes to the Itex building." Gazzy, Iggy, and I groan at this because Nudge can't last over an hour and a half without talking. "Don't complain, let's just get going."

I pack up my stuff and then go towards the side of the camp and watch the rest of the Flock pack up. As I watch I remember how different it was while Ozy's Flock had been here with us…

We had all talked and laughed as we packed up our stuff, but now we all just pack up in silence. When we used to eat with them here there used to be jokes flying all over the place with laughing almost the entire time. Now we just eat and talk about what our plans are or not at all.

Overall, it's just so different since we had to break up from the other, older Flock. I miss them and wish we could get together and take out Itex as a group instead of in Flocks, even if it does make it faster.

I snap out of my thoughts as Max says, "Okay, let's go." I watch silently as she opens her wings and pushes off of the ground to start flying. Fang is right behind her with Iggy holding onto the leg of his pants to he can tell which direction to go in. Nudge takes off and turns slightly to motion to Gazzy and me to follow. I look at my brother, he shrugs, and we both smile before unfurling our wings, pushing off the ground, and going up to meet the rest.

We fly for about half an hour in silence. That is something everyone is grateful for except me because when Nudge is silent from her mouth, her mind is racing. Usually I block her out but today her thoughts are very strong when she has a ton of things she wants to say but knows she can't. This is definitely one of those times I wish she could block out her mind from me like Max and Fang do, even if I prefer to be able to get into the minds of the Flock.

I finally manage to get her mind blocked out and start to relax when I hear something really bad.

**ANGEL?!?!**

_**Ozy?**_

**Angel, we're in trouble! Tell your Flock about the link! We need help pronto! Itex has us but that's the not the worst part. The worst part is… **He's suddenly cut off.

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**I know, I know. You all want to kill me right now. First I end chapter 1 with a cliffie, then I don't update for almost a month, and now there's another cliffie. I'm sorry, but I have to! **

**I didn't mean to go that long without posting. I had Midterms over the past two weeks during school so I was busy with that. Then I had a Writer's Block the whole time. And I just started to get a cold these past few days and it's not fun! I know that I owe you for doing this though so I'll make it up to you all. First, You will get to see what leads up to this startling message in chapter 3 and then what the Flock does after Angel hears it in chapter 4. I'm into chapter 4 but not chapter 3. But I'm pretty sure I know how to write chapter 3 and I'll be writing as much as I can so I can update very soon!**

**Please review and tell me what you thought of this chapter! You can tell me how much you hate me in the review also if you want! I accept any and all reviews so please just Review!!!**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	3. Help! Pronto!

**Chapter Three: Help! Pronto!**

**Ozy POV**

I wake up in a cage with Frannie next to me, just stirring now. I look around and see other cages around the room with the rest of the Flock in them; Mom and Uncle Matthew in one, Wendy and Peter in another, and Icarus alone in the last. None of the others are stirring yet, they are just lying on their backs in the cages.

I look over at Frannie to see her taking in our surroundings as well. She catches me eyes with hers and I hear her thoughts to me.

What's going on? Why aren't the rest waking up yet? We need the other Flock's help, but how do we get them? Do we really need them?

**Frannie, calm down! I'm pretty sure this is Itex and the others might have been given a second dose because they are older and bigger. They'll probably be waking up soon. We don't need the other Flock yet, but we might need them soon. As for contacting them, I know a couple of ways so don't worry.**

You're right; I shouldn't get so worked up yet. Once we find out what's going on I can worry.

**Let me see if I can wake the rest up with my mind, hang on.**

Okay.

I turn my concentration to my mom. **Mom? Mom, can you hear me?**

_Ozy? What's going on, Ozy?_

**Mom, Itex has us. Can you wake up Uncle Matthew while I work on the others?**

_Yeah, but be quick._

I turn my attention to the other side of the room where the others are. **Icarus, Wendy, Peter, you have to get up. Itex has us. Everyone else is up but you have to be quiet.**

_**Annoying mind reader… Why did Angel have to teach you so well during that week? Ugh, I'm getting up.**_

I try hard not to laugh at Icarus's thoughts and succeed at staying quiet.. I then watch as the three of them stir slowly in their cages. They finally sit up and start to take in their surroundings.

Just after Icarus opens his mouth so that he can ask us what the room looks like but before he can actually speak, the door opens. There's a figure in the doorway but our room is darker than the hall so we can't see who it is.

Suddenly I pick up on the familiar feel of the figure's mind, even if I can't read it, and get lower into a defensive position, growling instinctively. Everyone turns to look at me but I don't care; all I care about is this 'mysterious' figure in the doorway. I continue to growl at the figure in the doorway that is anything but unknown to me.

I watch as he is slowly revealed and the others slowly realize who it is. I hear gasps from all over the room as they realize why I'm growling.

Our old friend Omega II is here in Australia, and he's standing right in front of us.

We all stare at him for a moment before I pick up more thoughts outside the room. I almost gasp in surprise as I see through their eyes who are outside. It looks like… Angel's Flock is out there… but it isn't them at the same time. It's the weirdest feeling so I try to see what's different about them. Their mind voices are the same… they look is the same… their minds feel the same…

Then the reason hits me. No Max! Their Max isn't there at all. This isn't the real other Flock. They aren't fighting, there are no Erasers around, they are more disciplined, _and _there is NO MAX!

**Everyone, they have clones of the entire other Flock except Max out in the hall.**

There is one response from everyone, _**WHAT!!!**_

Then Omega II talks in his emotionless voice. "You are all awake already; impressive. We expected you all to be out cold for another hour, at least. Well, I guess this is as good a time as any to introduce some of my 'brothers' and 'sisters' to you." The other Flock's clones walk in and Omega II points to each as he introduces them. "Fang II, Iggy II, Nudge III, Gasman II, and Angel III." **(A/N: Only Nudge and Angel are III because they had clones in Book 3 but it never said anything about Fang, Iggy, or Gazzy.)**

They all stand behind Omega II like he's their leader and stare at us with emotionless eyes, as if they are hiding all emotion. Then, almost as if he read my mind before, Omega II says, "This is the new and improved Flock… with me as their leader!"

We all just stare at them silently. Then suddenly, they all start to move towards a cage except Fang II and Omega II. Angel III goes towards Icarus, Gazzy II towards Frannie and me, Nudge III towards Wendy and Peter, and Iggy II towards Mom and Uncle Matthew.

Just as they all grab one person in each cage (Frannie is taken first in ours), Omega says, "You all look like you could use some sleep." The clones all poke a needle into whoever they are holding and that person is slowly knocked out.

That's when I realize we need help and try to contact Angel.

**ANGEL?!?!**

Gazzy II grabs me as I hear her reply, _**Ozy?**_

This is my last chance; Gazzy II has the needle slowly moving towards my arm.

**Angel, we're in trouble! **I feel the needle on my arm, cold and starting to go into it..

**Tell your Flock about the link! **The needle is just in my arm, getting towards my vein where it will spread the liquid quickly.

**We need help pronto! **The needle is in my vein and Gazzy II is slowly pressing the liquid into me.

**Itex has us but that's not the worst part. **He's pulling the needle out, the liquid is in me, and I'm blacking out.

**The worst part is… **The liquid is too strong; I can't finish my message. I black out before I can finish the sentence.

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**I finally got this chapter finished and out! I'm so sorry but Writer's Block hit yet again and very strong. I wrote this last night while I was supposed to be in bed sleeping... whoops. Lol. I hope you enjoyed it because it was an interesting one to write. I mean, I got to add part of the newest generation of experiments and I'm not even done with the whole group yet! *Evil glint appears in eyes* I'm going to have so much fun writing this story... Hehe.**

**I hope you enjoyed this and please Review! I accept any reviews and that includes people wanting to kill me for not updating enough lately. I just want some reviews so they can be any size be about anything, but I just want reviews. So... Please Review!**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	4. Trouble All Around the World

**Chapter Four: Trouble All Around the World**

**End of Chapter 2 (So you remember):**

_**ANGEL?!?!**_

_**Ozy?**_

_**Angel, we're in trouble! Tell your Flock about the link! We need help pronto! Itex has us but that's the not the worst part. The worst part is… **__He's suddenly cut off._

**Angel's POV**

_**Ozy? Ozy?! OZY?! **_I'm in panic mode now.

I guess it's showing on my face because Gazzy asks me, "Are you okay Angel?" That makes everyone turn in the air to look at me. I see my horrorstricken face reflected in the face of everyone else.

"I'm fine but… The other Flock isn't!!!" I pretty much scream the last part. This gets mixed reactions from everyone.

"What do you mean the other Flock isn't fine?" "What are you talking about?" "Are you sure?" Are all questions I'm being asked.

Suddenly Max's voice is hear over everyone else's, "Quiet! Let's let Angel explain what's going on before she goes crazy from all of the questions." She turns to look at me with a look that says, 'Tell the truth and fast.'

"Ozy and I can talk over any distance including across the world. I just got a message from him in my mind saying that the other Flock is in trouble and that it's Itex. He also said that there's a worse part than it being Itex, but he got cut off for some reason before he could tell me what. I'm guessing they've been captured and that Ozy was just knocked out."

They all just stare at me in disbelief until all of their minds start to think crazily. _**You guys can talk over any distance?! Why didn't we know about this connection sooner?! They've been captured?! What's going on with all of this, I'm confused?!?!?! **_

I'm finally to my breaking point. _**Stop yelling in your minds at me!!! I now have a headache… Thanks…**_

"Guys, give Angel a break. She explained what's going on so we aren't in the dark anymore about why she says the other Flock isn't fine. Let's give her some air and then ask her questions one at a time, _out loud_."

I smile gratefully at Max and send her a thankswith my mind. She smiles slightly and nods in response before motioning towards the rest to remind me that they want answers. We fly down to land before I do anything. I look at Max and she gives me her look that says, 'Start… NOW!'

I turn to face the rest and say, "Iggy, you have two questions until everyone has gone or we decide what to do. You get to start."

"When did you both find out you could talk like this?"

I mentally sigh before replying, "The forest by Candex." I had really hoped they would ask about the other Flock and not this power.

"Okay, a while. Now… What's going on with the other Flock?"

Ah so he asked because he wanted to know if we had just found it out now or if it was a while ago. "From what I know, they had been on their way to their next branch of Itex. They didn't expect to get there until three days from now so Itex probably captured them in a hotel or from the air. Their situation has to be impossible if Ozy contacted me; not to mention he was knocked out cold in the middle of telling me the worst part of it…"

Iggy nods and I turn to Fang. "Your turn Fang; two questions."

He thinks for a minute, which annoys Nudge to no end, before asking, "Why does their situation have to be impossible?"

"Ozy and I agreed only to ask for help if the situation was almost impossible to get out of."

He nods; his face and mind unreadable. "What was Ozy's message exactly?"

"'Angel, we're in trouble. Tell your Flock about the link. We need help pronto. Itex has us but that's not the worst part. The worst part is…' That's where he was knocked out. That's also the message."

I turn to Max and see her taking out the map with all of the branches of Itex on it. "Can you cross off all the branches they've destroyed and circle the one they are most likely being held at?"

In response I take the pen she's holding as well at the map and cross out all of the destroyed branches before looking closer at the map to see where the other Flock could be. I see one branch near a small town called Wutunugurra **(A/N: Google is **_**very **_**helpful for finding a few random small towns that really exist. ;-P) **that they were going to attack after the one by Anatye. Wutunugurra was closer but they didn't want to fly north yet so they had been headed for Anatye.

I look closer at the branch by Wutunugurra and realize that last thing I had expected; it's the Itex branch that's second-in-command in Australia .

I stare at that one dot for long enough that Max realizes something seems to be wrong. "Angel, is something wrong?"

I point to Wutunugurra. "That's where they are. It's also the second-in-command there in Australia . Let's just say its big trouble for them. They definitely need our help to get out of there.. Are we going to go help them?"

Everyone looks up at Max since she makes the decisions.

"Do you all really have to ask me if we're going? We'll just need Angel to get us on a plane." She turns to look at me. "Same class as last time, okay?" I smile in understanding. She wants First Class again.

I look around at the rest of the Flock. Fang looks… normal but confused at the same time, but only if you know him well enough to see that. Nudge looks like she's going to explode with excitement but understands that this isn't the time to talk. Total looks just plain happy. Gazzy looks excited but also confused because of Max's wording about the First Class thing. Iggy…Iggy looks confused but more worried than confused.

"Max, _us _on a _**plane**_?!Are you crazy or something? How can _we _go on a _**plane**_?!" Oh… that's why he's worried.

"Iggy, you have to remember that Angel, Nudge, Total, and I went on planes to and fro Europe . It's not that bad so don't worry."

He still seems nervous so I decide to step in. "Iggy, don't worry. The airport staff and the plane's crew are all very nice. Flying in a plane is cool and you can think about the fact that if it breaks down, we'll survive." I look up at Max as I say that and she smiles.

"I guess you both are right; I shouldn't be worrying." He smiles happily and in relief.

"Okay, now that that's settled… Fang, can you find out flight times on the laptop?"

"Sure, Max." He sits down against a tree and takes the laptop out. He starts typing away as the rest of us sit down and start to relax slightly.

"Okay… Flight from Pittsburgh in three hours to Spain and then a flight to Dubai from Spain a couple after the first lands. Then a shorter flight to India from Dubai and then off to Australia. It will be sizteen hours with the layovers included in that." **(A/N: I made everything up in there except the country/city names. Times and flight directions are all made up so don't say anything about it.)**

"Okay, thanks Fang." He nods in acknowledgement. "Angel, we get to Pittsburgh and you get us on those flights, okay?" I simply nod. "Okay, let's get going guys!"

We do an Up and Away and head towards Pittsburgh … one step closer to saving the others.

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**Sorry about the wait... School is a total mess right now and it's throwing me off. 8th graders (Me) have the FCAT (Florida state test...) Writes Tuesday so that means we get to practice by writing essay after essay! Yay! So much fun! *Note the sarcasm* So... that mixed with the fact that my classes are getting harder right now, I've had barely any time to write. I'm also a bit sick and tired of writing right now because I've written at least 10 essays in the past 3 weeks or so... So if Chapter 5 doesn't come out for a few weeks, you now know why...**

**In better news, the next two chapters will have brand new POVs! You all will get to see more of Matthew in chapter 5 and more of Wendy in chapter 6.**

**So... can you all PLEASE Review and tell me how my story and/or chapter is? I'm not asking for a certain number, just reviews! It might make me get Chapter 5 out quicker... Please review, I accept any!**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	5. Generation R

**Chapter Five: Generation R**

**Matthew's POV**

I slowly wake up and realize my body feels weird; like it's being stretched. I open my eyes and look to see that I'm on a cold, metal bed, like the ones used for operations, and it's angled so that I'm almost standing. My ankles, wrists, and stomach are tied to the bed with a sort of rope that's as strong as steel; so strong that it probably has steel wire in it.

"Uhh…" My head flashes up as I look in the direction from which the sound came from and I see my nephew, Ozy, in the exact same position I'm in but only now waking up.

A closer look around the room shows everyone is actually in this exact same position but kind of in a curving line along mine. Max is next to my on my right, in the center of the group, with my niece and nephew, Frannie and Ozy, to my left. On Max's right is Icarus and then Wendy and Peter are on his right. I also see more of these beds in front of us in the same position but with their backs to us.

I hear more groans as the rest wake up. They all start looking around slowly around the room like I had when I first woke up. As my sister looks around the room and check on the Flock, I try to catch her eye. When she finally looks at me last, I see a lot of emotions in her eyes: fear, bravery, rebellion, and, worst of all, a little bit of defeat in there. I don't like that last emotion in her eyes because we don't need that in here!

I'm about to try and send her a silent message just as Ozy says by mind, **I'm pretty sure the other Flock is on its way… **I guess the rest of the Flock start screaming in their minds because he then says, **Stop yelling! Okay, here's the story. When we were in the forest by Candex, Angel and I discovered we could talk over any distance… Quiet!**

**We decided to keep this quiet for a while because we didn't want the power overused. We agreed to use it incase one of our Flocks got into trouble and so just before I was knocked-out, I tried to let her know the best and as fast as I could.**

**I'd contact her now but… I can't sadly. I don't know why. Might be Itex. **He goes silent then, giving the rest of us time to digest this new information and to think about it.

So… instead of that huge 'heroic rescue' all of us had been expecting to do, we are the victims in need of saving… the bird-kids in distress.

I feel someone looking at me and I look up to see my sister giving me a look saying 'Are you worried about any of this at all?' I smile in response as it to say 'Not a single bit.' She relaxes slightly as I watch her.

Lately my sister has been turning to me for reassurance in the worst situations because before we met the other Flock, we hadn't done anything like this at all without Ozymandias in the group. He had been out second-in-command and so when he died, we had all been hit hard, especially my sister. I'm now second-in-command and the person closest to Max, so even though I'm her annoying, silly brother, she needs me a lot more than anyone else realizes.

Suddenly, the door to the room, which is just visible between the beds in front of us, opens and a person walks in. Sorry, did I say person? I meant that annoying, evil human-robot Omega II.

He stops just past the other row of beds and faces us, looking each of us in the eyes before stopping on Max since she's in the middle of the row. "You are all about to see our newest additions to my generation. They will be part of my Flock army which consists of the Flock without Maximum Ride, a few special Erasers, and now…" He pushes a button on his watch then the seven beds begin to turn to face us. "You."

We are all facing perfect replicas of ourselves down to the feather except they don't have the life in their eyes that we do. They all then step off their beds in perfect sync, as if they had been practicing that for years. They stand behind Omega II just as the door opens again and the rest of his "Flock army" walks in.

We are now seeing a group with Omega II in the middle and surrounded by ourselves, the other Flock, and three strong-looking teenager boys with wings. None of them have life in their eyes like normal humans do. They all actually seem to be the same person but with different features.

"Now I'd like to introduce my second-in-command…" We expect one of the three teens to step forward but instead the door opens again and a boy that looks to be about seven and has spiked brown hair and brown eyes comes in. "This is Ari II and he's been improved from his original form as a very messed up and dead Eraser." Ari then opens his wings, which are different shades of brown depending on which feathers you are looking at, slightly and walks over to stand in his position to the right of Omega II.

"We all make up Generation R --- Generation Replica. We are the new and improved forms of our original forms and we will help lead Itex to changing the world for the better. We are the ultimate fighting force and you are lucky to see all of us together without us fighting you. Enjoy it while you can."

They then just stood there without moving a muscle. That's when everyone heard a few stomachs growl: Max's, Frannie's, Peter's, and mine. Thinking about food made me want one thing… "Pasta!" The whole Flock stares at me with a look that clearly says 'Shut Up!!!' I look at them innocently and they all shake their heads at me sadly. I shrug slightly because it's not my fault I'm hungry and my mouth can move faster than my brain when it comes to stopping myself from saying things like that.

I catch Max's eye and see that she's laughing inside at that very random and badly timed reminder of that odd sense of humor I have.

"We will leave you all alone for now. Some scientists will come in to test you tomorrow and some may come to talk to you today. Follow orders or we will be dealing with you." With that 'G-R' leaves the room.

I close my eyes are try to relax but instead Icarus has to get on my case. "What was that all about?! 'Pasta!!!' You _had _to say that, didn't you? Are you _TRYING _to get us killed or something? It wasn't funny or anything like that! It could have been the stupidest thing in the world to do!

"Ic, calm down. It was his mouth working before his brain could tell it not to." I shoot Wendy a frown and she shrugs.

"Bad timing for it…" Icarus is still grumbling but quietly and to himself now.

We all go into a lapse of silence; each to their own thoughts.

I wish I hadn't said that up to a point but really, it was funny and only Icarus doesn't think so because he can't see.

Everyone has no emotions showing and the younger kids have their eyes closed; they are most likely sleeping. I'm getting ready to do the same when something happens…

The door suddenly glides open silently. The only reason we know it's opening is the sound of fresh air coming into the room; that wakes everyone up and has them alert in milliseconds.

We all look up to see a man and I hear four gasps, I think one might be my own, but I suddenly can't hear anything. All I can do is stare at the face of the newcomer.

It can't be him! It just can't be!! He's dead!!!

We're all looking into the face of the man who ordered Ozymandias' murderer to shoot any of us he could. Dr. Harold Hauer.

* * *

**Look... I'm SO SO SO sorry!!! I've been tortured with school, the unability to write, and so much more. I know that I shouldn't have left it this long and I'm sorry! I hope I can get chapter 6 finished soon so I can post it soon, but who knows with FCATs (The state tests are back...) and projects and other things. I know how I want to finish it so hopefully I'll have it done in the next day or so.**

**Anyway... The chapter wasn't from me only. I had help from a few friends being random in school (by coincidence one is named Matthew...) and they helped me. You have them to thank for a couple of things like how I was going to show Matt's odd sense of humor and another friend gave me an idea which led to the Ari II thing.**

**Please review, even if it's just to say you hate me for making the time between posting this long... I accept any and all reviews!!!**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	6. Easy Tests Yeah Right

**Chapter Six: Easy Tests… Yeah right**

**Wendy's POV**

I'm staring at the man who just walked in; the man we thought we would never see again. He just looks at us with blank eyes.

Out of the corner of my eye I see movement and that snaps me out of my frozen state. The movement had been the younger twins looking around the room, very confused. They had heard our gasps and then realized that this man meant something to us older Flock members, but they're too young to know what. They hadn't been born yet when Ozymandias died so they know very little about it.

"I'm not who you think I am." That makes me look over towards the door at him again. "The man you think I am was my older brother by nine years and he was put up for adoption as an infant because our parents couldn't afford a child at the time. I only found out I even had a brother after I had joined Itex and they told me Harold Hauer shared enough DNA with me to be my brother. I never met him thought because I joined three years after he died."

I look at this man closer than I did before and realize that he isn't lying. He looks younger and his eyes show something that Hauer's didn't: a little bit of kindness.

"Who are you then?!" I have to agree that I'm just as curious as Max, who asked the question, and I wouldn't be surprised if everyone else is just as curious.

"My name is Jeb Batchelder and I… am the other Max's father." We all stare at him in disbelief after he says that. Her father works for Itex? No way!

"Does… Max… know that?" Matthew asks, hesitating a bit around Max's name.

"Yes, she does." Wait… she _knows _that an Itex worker is her father?! "She knows, but she hates the idea and won't accept me as her father. Now, you should all get to sleep; you have a long day of testing ahead of you tomorrow." With that, he leaves the room.

Everyone looks over at Max and she nods, agreeing with the sleep idea. We all fall asleep in moments from the exhaustion we'd been ignoring.

I wake up to the sound of the door opening and look up to see scientists coming in with Erasers as guards. Test time; oh joy!

One of the scientists steps forward and says, "I'm Dr. Eric Frezer and you all need to come with us for testing."

"We know who _you _are, but who are the others?" I guess Max didn't want to point out that we're tied to beds.

Eric starts to point to other scientists, "Dr. Melissa Garcia, Dr. Mary Lange, Dr. Tami Cain, Dr. Dalia Telgar, Dr. Gisela Zumbado, and Dr. Cathy Peck." They all nod as their names are said.

"Great, now… Untying us might help."

Melissa nods to the Erasers and they come over to us and let us out. Then the Erasers surround us and make us move over towards the scientists. Then we're split up, each of us going with a different scientist. I get Dr. Eric Frezer; oh joy!

He takes me down a few hallways and leads me to a room with a door and a glass wall between this room and another room. The other room has a huge fan in one wall and two metal handle bars on the opposite wall.

"You are going to go into that room, grab onto the handles with your hands, and hold on as long as you can with the fan on reverse and pulling you back. When you're done, put your wings out before you let go so that I know to turn the fan off." I stare at him with a blank face. "Go into the other room."

I walk into the other room when he gestures to the Eraser that's standing by the door and sigh as I go in. I grab the handles and the fan turns on; slowly and then gaining speed. I get forced off my feet and my arms start to feel like they're being pulled out of their sockets. I'm just holding on for my life.

I'm still hanging on for what feels like days but has probably been only about half an hour. My muscles are burning from holding on so long. I'm starting to see dots because I'm so exhausted. I can tell I'm about to faint.

Just as I feel myself slide into the peaceful blackness of unconsciousness, I put out my wings and hope the fan won't tear me apart.

I feel something in my mouth—a straw—and I start to suck on it. Water enters my mouth, waking me up a bit more. Behind me Eric is telling Melissa that I held on for an hour—an hour!—and that I hadn't looked strained until the last five minutes. Melissa starts to reply and I listen harder.

"She's done the best of the older lot. The two Generation 2s did the best of all of them. The boy survived going through even our toughest maze without getting shocked or burnt. The girl wasn't found by Erasers for over an hour in the woods that they know by heart.

"This one's brother did almost as well as her by flying through a wire maze and only failing on the second-to-hardest course. The blind one dodged bullets, arrows, and everything we threw at him. He was actually the one that amazed us but he couldn't fly through the wide maze we made for him.

"The oldest boy, or Peter Pan **(A/N: Matthew is Peter Pan. Nickname from the books)**, destroyed all the Erasers we sent at him, but he said 'Moose' every time he defeated one. That took him down in points.

"The oldest girl, the leader or Tinkerbell, flew through the air obstacle course over and over, faster each time. The problem was that every time a scientist or Eraser went into the room to have her come out for more tests, she attacked them until they left the room and then she went back to the course."

I smirk slightly at what she just said. Of course Max would be doing that; she loves flying, disobeying orders, and hurting/attacking scientists. This is just typical Flock behavior, but I guess they wouldn't know that since these are a totally different group of scientists from when we were last here.

The scientists walk over to me. "Will she be ready for more tests later?"

"We aren't sure. She did use up a lot of energy in the fan room… She might be ready though."

I do a mental check of my body and realize that the earliest I can guess I'll be ready to even move is tonight, but I could fake it until tomorrow…

"Take her to where the others are." I'm pulled up and pushed towards the doorway by an Eraser. I'm too tired to fight it. Heck, the Eraser is holding onto my arm to keep me upright, not to keep me from running.

When I'm pushed into a cage with my twin, I just lie where I was push to and don't look up until I hear a voice. "Wendy? Wendy, are you okay?" I look up to see Peter next to me on his heels looking very worried. "What's wrong Wendy? What did they do to you?"

I force myself to sit up before I look around to see my family all looking at me with very worried expressions. "I… I was forced to hold onto metal handles while the set a fan on reverse behind me…" They all gasp and I realize that Max isn't there just as the door opens and she's forced into the room by about ten Erasers.

They finally succeed in forcing her into a cage but, instead of letting herself get thrown to the ground as I had, she stays standing. She glares at the Erasers until they leave the room, so for about ten seconds. Then she turns to check on the rest of us. "You all okay?" I hear her words and voice, but it sounds like it's coming through a tunnel. "Wendy?! Wendy, are you okay?!" I feel myself swaying as the world goes black and I fall to the ground exhausted from my test and the exercise.

I finally wake up a while later and quickly take in my surroundings. Frannie, Ozy, Matthew, and Ic aren't in the room anymore, but the others are and they notice it when I wake up.

Peter comes over to me. "Wendy, are you okay? It seemed like you fainted on us."

"I did faint I think…" I hear my voice and it's very faint. "I was exhausted. I held on for just over an hour they were saying."

"Oh, my God. You held on that long?!" His voice is full of amazement. "No wonder you fainted!" I just nod.

The door opens and Eric comes in. "You're awake; that's great!" He's looking at me. "It's time for more testing." He must have seen my look of horror, surprise, and, the most dominant, exhaustion. "Don't worry; it won't be as… exhausting as last time." I'm let out of my cage and led to another room; this is the room with that obstacle course Max must have been tested in before.

It has hoops from the ceiling at different levels, randomly placed walls of different sizes but from the ceiling, a maze of metal poles are up there, and even a bunch of things moving around for me to dodge.

"Okay, up you go." Eric is gesturing for me to fly up to the start; a white line marked 'start' on the ceiling. "On your mark… get set… Go!" I take off through the maze, but not before I hear the beep of a stopwatch.

First up are the hoops. I make myself remember an old code of the Flock's: 'Chee-rup-te-rup-te-rup.' As I think it, I move up and down through the hoops.

Then comes the maze of poles and I think of a different version of our code: 'Coo-rup-chee-te-rup-soo-te-chee-rup.' I zoom through the maze.

The walls come and I just fly under them. Then comes the moving objects, so I just let my senses and instincts take over. I'm out!

I fly down, but instead of landing perfectly and standing up straight, I stagger when I land. Erasers come straight over, grab me, and take me back to the cage. I see the rest of my family is in the room while I'm thrown onto the cold floor of the metal cage.

"Max…" I say as I force myself to raise my head to look at her.

"Yes, Wendy?"

"How did you not feel exhausted after that maze…?" My voice is very faint and my head is on its side so that I can still see Max.

I watch her and see her answering, but I can't hear her at all. All I know is that my vision is going a hazy black around the edges of my vision again. The last thought I have before I since into unconsciousness is: "I hope the other Flock gets here soon." Then I faint from way too much exhaustion.

* * *

**I Finally got this typed up. I've had it written by hand for a few days now, but it took me forever to finally finish typing it up. Look, I've started the next chapter, but I have like NO inspiration or a need to work on it. I have a bit done, but unless I'm given a reason to work on it, it might take a while for it to come out. What I really want is reviews... I'm getting virtually no hits, let alone reviews. Can you all PLEASE try to see if you can get me more? If you try, you have my major thanks...**

**Okay, I want you all to decide on something. 1. Should I have couples in this, yes or no. 2. If yes, which couple(s). They can be from either of the two Flocks. I know this is out of nowhere, but I decided I might try it...**

**If anyone has ANY ideas about where I should take this, let me know and I might use your ideas.**

**I've got Spring Break coming up, so I might try to write then if I can... (Week after next...). Otherwise, State tests are over and now I have one more quarter to go before school's out. Once it's out, I can finally relax! But until then... Gotta keep my grades up. :(**

**Please review... **

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	7. Both of Us Having a Good Time

**Chapter Seven: Both of Us Having a Good Time**

**Fang's POV**

We walk out of the airport after our long, but somewhat refreshing, had gotten us onto First Class of every flight I'd said and we'd each gotten three complementary meals on each flight. We all got some much needed sleep on each flight; though Max and I took turns to keep an eye on the Flock and the other passengers with me taking the most watch time. I have an odd feeling that Max had gotten Angel to tell me to sleep very quietly…

Anyway, now we're walking out of the airport feeling nice and refreshed and ready for flying. We walk to a dark alley, check for people in sight, and unfurl our wings to take off.

Once in the air, I take my customary place to the right of Max. I've had this position since Angel had been kidnapped and we've been on the run. I also learned when I left Max, with only Iggy and the Gasman with me, that I'd rather have this position than hers.

I learned my lesson then, and the hard way, that the Flock shouldn't be separated. Also that Max is amazing to lead us as well as she does, though I knew that pretty well already. She keeps us together, can be so strong, can be so kind, she's caring, and she does anything and everything for the Flock. We aren't the Flock without her.

I fly next to her, watching her fly in a way that I've perfected so that I can watch her without her noticing. I watch her fourteen-and-a-half feet wings beating strongly in the air; the sun reflecting off the white and different shades of brown of her feathers. Her brown hair with blond streaks is seemingly floating behind her head and moving with the beating of her wings and the wind.

She turns to do her usual 360 of the area and checking of the Flock. I look at her chocolate brown eyes until just before she turns to look at me; which I when I turn away from her, my emotion locked in my solid shell.

I feel her gaze on me and, as usual, wonder what she thinks about when she looks at me. I could ask the seven year old mind reader who's prodding at my mind shields, but I'd rather not.

Instead I give Angel a meaningful look, she smiles innocently and the prods on my mind disappear. I nod in thanks and look ahead again.

Sometimes having a seven year old mind reader that wants to get past your mental blocks and can suddenly speak into your mind can get very, very annoying. I also know that I'm not the only one who thinks this.

I look over at the sun and see that it's setting. A quick glance at my watch shows that it's almost seven. I glance and Max, catch her eye this time, and use looks to tell her that it's getting late and we should land. She nods.

"Guys, it's time to land." We all follow Max down into a bunch of trees. Instead of doing our stack and going to sleep, however, Nudge has a new idea/thought.

"Um… Max, Fang, can I ask you something?"

I turn towards her so she knows that I'm listening. Max says that she'll be right there; she's helping Angel with something. This gives me a moment to think.

Nudge is actually _asking _us if she can ask a question?! This is definitely a first. It must be important then.

Max turns and comes over to Nudge and I then. "Yes Nudge?"

"Um… You know how I'm twelve and all?"

I nod and Max says, "Yeah…?"

"Shouldn't I be able… be able to keep watch?" The last part comes out in a rush.

Max and I look at each other, then back at Nudge, and back at each other again. I shrug.

"She has a point you know." Max looks at me and seems to be trying to figure out what to do. She sighs.

"You're right. Nudge," She turns back to Nudge, "you do earn to keep watch. You're definitely old enough for it." She turns towards the others. "Iggy, can you come here?"

"Sure." Iggy walks over, looking slightly confused. "What's up?"

"Nudge has just asked us, and Fang and I both agree that it's time, if she can take watches." He whistles.

"She's getting more mature and responsible, isn't she?" He's also smiling.

"She is. So Nudge," We all turn to look at her, "are you ready to start taking watches?" Nudge just nods. I don't think she was expecting us to say yes tonight.

"Why don't you take the first and last watches Nudge?" Everyone turns to look at me. "I mean, there's always a big chance that someone has to take two watches. When one of us gets hurt, normally we have someone taking two watches. Think about the times that we've had two of us hurt and one of the hurt has to take the last watch.

"She should try doing that now, when no one is hurt, so that she'll be prepared if someone is hurt."

I look at the others and see Iggy and Max realizing my reasoning behind this. Their faces show that they agree with me, but I can also tell that Nudge doesn't think she has a say in this. I guess Max noticed too.

"So, Nudge, what do you say? Do you want the first and last watches?" Nudge stares at Max.

"You mean… I get a say in this?"

"Of course, you're the one who's going to be staying up two-thirds of the night. The rest of us always decide who does which watch together, not just one person giving them out." Nudge thinks for a moment and then nods.

"Ig, why don't you take second watch since Fang and I took the watches on the plane?"

"Sure." Iggy's smiling. I guess he likes the idea of a fourth person to share watches with.

We head back to Gazzy, Angel, and Total. I see Gazzy slipping a half-finished bomb into the pocket of his jacket just before Max can see it. Silly boy; he's just lucky that Max keeps finding uses for bombs… Otherwise, he and Iggy would be in so much trouble for making so many bombs.

Iggy moves "inconspicuously" to sit next to Gazzy. Max goes over to our packs and looks through them, or she looks though all of them but Gazzy's and Iggy's.

"We're getting low on supplies; I'm going to go into the nearest town. Anyone else want to come?" Nudge, Angel, and Total all stand up; Gaz, Ig, and I stay where we are. "Ok, we'll be back in about an hour or maybe an hour and a half." I nod.

Max looks are Gazzy and Iggy, who are grabbing the last of the food out of the backpacks. She gives me a look that's asking me if I'm going to keep an eye on them and make sure they don't do anything they aren't supposed to. I nod and grab my laptop from my bag before Max takes it and all the other bags.

The others leave and the three of us sit down. Gazzy and Iggy have out a bunch of unfinished bombs, finished bombs, and supplies in under a minute. They're about to start when Iggy has a thought.

"Fang, you aren't going to tell Max about this, are you?" Instead of answering with a 'Yes' or 'No' I say,

"Just don't have this stuff out when the girls get back." They both get evil grins on their faces and get back to work.

I open my new laptop and sit against a tree. This is a new laptop because the old one was used for bomb parts by Gazzy and Iggy so we had to grab a few spare laptops from the last Itex we destroyed.

I open up Internet Explorer and go to my blog, getting ready to post again. It's been a while since I've posted. Before I post, though, I'd better read some replies.

**From AkireKralc at 8:53 P.M. on April 2****nd**

**Fang, whats going on 4 you now? You haven't posted in forever! Is something wrong? This has me worried!**

**A Major Fan,**

**Echo from Florida**

**From Hades13 at 9:14 P.M. on April 2****nd**

**Yo dude! Seen anymore Erasers? I so wish I could at least see you for once! Man… I hope you all are okay.**

**Hades from Maryland**

**From Anonymous at 9:48 P.M. on April 2****nd**

**Awesome! How many Itexes have you guys taken out? Like 50 already?! Man, you guys are awesome!!!**

**From, **

**A Flock Lover from Russia**

I think I'll stop reading, since I can already see that the replies are all like these ones.

Man… So many worried readers, so many also want to meet us, and even more want to know how we're doing on our quest.

I sigh slightly and get working on my post…

**Yo. **

**We're still alive, so don't worry about that. **

**Right now we're in Australia. I know, I know, it's the OTHER Flock's job to take care of Australia, but it seems that Angel has been holding some details back from the rest of us…**

**Anyways, we're in Australia. We don't know what's going to happen here, but we are here and aren't leaving yet. We've got some stuff to take care of before going back to America. **

**I'll say this; a lot of Australia is DRY. Amazingly dry… I don't know how these people live here, but oh well. We're American so we won't be here long at all.**

**That's all for now. I'll update you all about what's going on when I know more about what's going on. Okay, fine, you all got me; I know more but I'm not saying. It's for the safety of you, the Flock, and me. **

**Fly On,**

**Fang**

I run a spell check, fix all my spelling and grammar mistakes, and put it on the blog. Then I close the laptop and put it down.

Looking over at Gazzy and Iggy, I see that they have finished all of those bombs they had to complete earlier and have made a few extra. They're working on as many as they can get done before Max gets back and hurts them.

I shake my head slightly and get up. Iggy hears me, turning his head slightly, but keeps on working. I unfurl my wings and fly up towards the top of a tree to look at the setting sun. It's barely up anymore; mostly it's just an orange and pink line.

What are we doing here in Australia? I didn't think they would ever need our help, even if they are caught. They're just as strong as us, aren't they? Ah well, both Flocks knew that one would have to call for help eventually.

I sigh and look down at the ground. Iggy and Gazzy are still working, but now I only see their supplies and the bombs they are working on. At least they're being smart enough to have them hidden so it's less stuff to put away when Max does get back.

I look back up at the sky to see the girls coming back, but they'll still be a few minutes. I think for a moment and decide to save Gazzy's and Iggy's butts for once.

I whistle down to them. Both of their heads snap up. I point just slightly and Gazzy understands what I mean. I hear quiet whispering and Gazzy tells Ig that the girls are coming and they need to pack up _now. _

Within half a minute all of the supplies had been hidden. This is when I realized _how _they got away with having their supplies. **They hide it in their bags disguised as food. **Smart boys…

Within a minute of them hiding their stuff, the girls land. Max looks around, trying to find me. I jump down from the tree, opening my wings slightly so that I don't feel the impact at all. She turned around; everyone had been facing away from the tree, looking startled.

"Sorry." She nods, used to it.

"What have you three been up to?" She starts passing out sticks and hotdogs – I see buns behind her.

"Gazzy and I were flying. Fang was using the computer, checking his blog I'm guessing since he was typing." Good old Iggy, answering for all three of us.

"Right…" Max turns to me, "Were they really flying around?" I just nod. "Fine, I believe you, only because you have Fang to back you up though."

Gazzy is giving me a thankful look for both of them from behind Max. When she turns away I nod and shrug as if to say it was nothing. He smiles slightly before turning to the fire that Iggy was making larger for us to cook on.

Once we're all eating, Max decides it's time to drop the whole Nudge is now taking watches bomb on Angel, Gazzy, and Total.

"Guys, Nudge is going to start taking watches with Iggy, Fang, and me." She takes a quick bite of her hotdog while the younger ones start to complain. "Stop! Okay, she's older than you and she's earned the responsibility. You both will get to take watches eventually, though I hope by the time you're the right age we won't be on the run anymore."

They both look sad but they give in. They know that Nudge is older and earns to get this before them. I keep the smile that's just slightly trying to form on my lips back.

Finally, we all stack our fists and tap each others' fist with our other hand. The younger kids go up to their branches, kind of close to the bottom of the tree, and fall asleep almost immediately. Nudge is finding her place up near the top of the big tree we're all in, so she can see all of us. Iggy is a bit below her, so they can just switch spots when watches are over. Max and I are still on the ground, taking care of the fire.

"So… Nudge is on watch." Max whispers to me. I nod. "This should be different and nicer."

"Yup, less watches for the rest of us. We'll have to make a schedule soon." Max smirks at that. As if we've _ever _had a schedule.

"Wanna go for a fly for a bit?" I nod and Max goes up to tell Nudge. I listen carefully.

"Nudge, Fang and I are going to go for a fly. We'll be back in a while. Make sure you wake Iggy when it's his watch, don't try to take the whole night. Trust me, you don't want to." I saw Nudge nod against the moon before Max came back down and started hovering just above me.

"You coming?" Instead of giving her an answer, I just jump up and unfurl my wings.

We both head southwest, without any real aim in mind. We finally land by a river and just sit on the edge for a while.

I'm looking at Max in the moonlight. She's so beautiful just sitting there, and she's even looking a bit relaxed. Something that's new for her. Max turns to look at me.

"Want to go swimming?" I smile in response.

We both get up, taking off as many layers as we can… That means all but my shorts and boxers for me, and for Max it's only her jacket, shoes, and socks that she could take of. We'll find a change of clothes for both of us when we get back to the Flock.

We both slide into the river, without taking a breath of air before going in. We look at each other as we open our mouths and suck in some water. Bubbles appear by Max's neck and I imagine that it's happening for me to. We're both breathing out air from our noses.

Turning upstream, Max motions for me to follow her. Luckily, the water isn't fast and doesn't have a strong current; we can swim upstream without problem. **(A/N: Looking on a map, there are a bunch of wide rivers in Australia; that's where these two are.)**

We just swim for a while, looking at the rocks underwater which are different from what you'd think. Just swimming makes this worth it. It's a lot of fun and we get to practice breathing under water -- a plus.

I smile at Max as we swim in the river, heading back towards where we entered. She smiles back; both of us having a good time.

* * *

**Okay, this is my longest chapter page-wise on MicroSoft that I've ever written. I hoped you enjoyed it.**

**I have the next few chapters planned out and they'll be written for sure. I know how I'm going to do it. So please, review and get them posted. **

**I just want reviews... Please, give me reviews on this chapter. Tomorrow, April 9th, is my birthday. If you could give me reviews on this chapter before I post chapter 8, it would make me a very happy person. Please... Just review.**

**Edited: 4/4/10 (I can tell you this was posted 4/8/09 originally.)**


	8. A New One

**Chapter Eight: ****A New One**

**Iggy's POV**

I suddenly jerk awake. Nudge just lightly tapped my arm to wake me up.

"It's your watch." She actually knows how to whisper so quietly that only I can hear; it's amazing!

I nod so that she knows that I know. I sit up, listening to everything around me. All of these noises create a picture in my mind of what's going on around me.

The wind blowing against the trees and the grass show me how far up I am and how large the trees are around me. The breathing of Angel, Gazzy, Nudge (Who is now asleep), and Total show me where they are. No Max or Fang though. I guess they're out on one of their night-flights.

I hear an owl in the distance, flying to the southwest and calling to other owls. There are a group of bats about, oh, maybe a fourth of a mile away from us. They're eating some bugs that they've just found. I can just barely hear their high pitched screeching used for their echo-location.

Gazzy turns over in his sleep slightly on his branch. Total's legs are moving while he dreams about chasing something, as usual. Nudge and Angel are still, breathing lightly in their sleep.

The grass moves slightly; a bug walking through it. Then a bunch of ants are moving through the grass behind me.

Then I hear very familiar wings beating down on the air. Fang and Max are back. They also seem to sound… slower than normal.

They land and that's when I realize it; they're wet. Their clothes are dripping water into the grass and they are both holding clothes in their hands that are swinging back and forth in the slightly breeze.

I hear zippers on backpacks open and clothes being taken out by both of them. They both change into dry clothes; away from each other. Then they both start to climb up the tree and they finally find their spots under me.

They hang their wet clothes by their feet on the branches and use their backpacks for pillows… Or Max does. Fang, on the other hand, is just pretending to sleep until Max is asleep; as usual.

About fifteen minutes later, she's asleep and Fang starts to climb up to where I'm keeping "watch."

We sit here in silence for a while, Fang looking around and me listening to the nature around me.

"Anything happen while we were gone?" Fang spoke first… Man he's gotten more talkative lately.

"Nope. Except for Mother Nature and the Flock, it's been very quiet tonight." We're both quiet for a few minutes. "What did you two do this time?"

"Went for a swim in a river. It's actually the river we'll be following tomorrow."

"Oh, cool. So I'll have more than just directions and the sound of wings to follow tomorrow."

"Yup."

We sit there for half an hour before Fang tells me my watch is over and we should get off to bed once I wake Nudge up. He then goes down to his spot and I wait until he stops moving before I reach up and wake Nudge up by tapping her ankle.

She wakes up quickly, sits up, tells me her thanks, and I hear the air moving around her head which means she's looking around.

I lie down on my branch and use my backpack for a pillow like the others. Then I make myself as comfortable as a blind mutant bird-kid can be on a tree branch and fall asleep in minutes.

When I wake up it's to the feeling of heat on my body and Gazzy poking me slightly.

"It's dawn, come on, let's make some bombs." I grin evilly and we both grab our bags and climb down the tree.

Getting out our bomb supplies, we get to work. I feel the wires and know the color in my head somehow; waiting until I get the right wire. Once I have the right wires, I start to wire the parts of the bombs together; putting in other parts so that there can be a spark in there. Then I close up the bomb and make sure that there's a button on it, a timer, and a signal so we can also use the remote control watches I made Gazzy and me.

After about ten minutes of us working on bombs, Nudge finally comes down to see what we're doing. I know that she's seen us but just didn't come down before. Now she's gotten too impatient so she's coming down.

"What are you two doing?!" She's at least whisper yelling quietly and not like Fang and Max do; they do it loudly.

"Building bombs." At least Gazzy knows how to state the obvious… Her next question is going to be about why and that sort of thing.

"I know _**that**_. Why **now **and here? I mean, it's barely dawn!"

"We know that Nudge, but this is just about the only time we _can _build bombs. Max would see us at any other time so we build them during last watch when either Fang or I are on watch. Now, we have a third person that can be on watch while we build bombs; you." I raise an eyebrow to see what she says.

"Nuh-uh! No way am I going to be a cover for you! You guys have to build bombs where Max can see you." I sigh and shake my head and hear Gazzy doing the same.

"Nudge," Gazzy starts, "If we can't build bombs, then how are we supposed to blow up Itex? How do we fight the Erasers? We aren't given enough time on Max's given time to build bombs for everything that they're needed for. This is the only way to get enough."

"Fine… but if Max catches you, it's on your head."

"Yeah, we know." I can hear him smiling. "Come on, let's get back to work. Oh, Nudge, you should go back to being on watch."

"Wait, if you do this on your watch Ig, how do you keep watch?"

"Did you hear how quiet we were before?" I can hear her nodding because the Flock has gotten into the habit of humming just slightly when nodding and we aren't in danger. "Well don't you think that with my ears I can hear something coming with that much silence?"

"Oh… Good point." I raise an eyebrow before going back to my bomb building. I hear her fly up to her spot.

An hour and a half later, or so Gazzy tells me, I hear Max starting to wake up. "Gazzy."

"Got it." He grabs all the supplies and starts to put them away while I grab the bombs and put them into my pockets, sliding a bunch into Gazzy's pockets while he puts stuff away. Within two minutes of hearing her groan a bit, our warning that she's going to be up in about five minutes, we're both back into our spots and pretending to be asleep.

I hear Nudge sigh and whisper almost silently, "You two are good at this… How often and how long have you been doing this?"

I smirk slightly and reply just as quietly, "Almost every night except when Max gets the final watch. Oh, and for at least a year."

"Wow…" We're quiet after that as we hear Max getting up.

A few minutes later Max is tapping my ankle before moving onto Gazzy, Angel, and Fang. It's time to get up.

We all go down to where our fire was and Nudge is down there, making it stronger. I smile and go to the bag with the tiny frying pan that Nudge was thoughtful enough to have Max get us. I also grab some eggs, which Max had put in a bag of ice that she'd gotten so that they'd stay cool until morning.

I put the frying pan on a big rock next to the fire and let it start to heat up. Then, once it's heated, I crack open a couple of eggs on the pan and, using a couple of forks, keep them in the middle of the pan. After five minutes I put the fried eggs onto a plate and get working on some more.

Once I'm done making a huge batch of eggs, about twenty-five minutes later, everyone grabs a plate and I serve them their eggs. I sneakily give the Gasman and I extra, but not so much extra that it's noticeable.

We all eat our breakfast and everyone tells me that it was excellent. We clean up camp and then start flying southwest. Not before too long, I hear the sound of slow moving water. I think for a minute and then remember that it's that river that Max and Fang had been swimming in and that Fang said we'd be following today.

A few minutes after I originally heard the river, it's under me and we change direction to head southeast. Then we start the normal and boring thing known as flying towards our destination…

A few hours later we're landing for a break and Gazzy is whispering to me to tell me that we're maybe half an hour away from the Itex that we're headed to. Right now we're going into town to get some fast food… Well actually to get food, new clothes for us boys since we didn't go and get them yesterday, and Gazzy and I will be raiding a store for bomb supplies.

I follow the group to a fast food restaurant, following the footsteps of my friends. Fang orders a bunch of food and I just get the same thing as him. I follow Fang and Gazzy to a table in the back by a corner and start eating fries like there's no tomorrow. Gazzy is stuffing a burger into his mouth and Fang is eating both, but separately.

The girls join us, see how we're eating, shake their heads, and start to eat but slower. I just ignore them and eat all my food.

Once we're all done, the girls drag us boys to a clothes store and Max orders Fang to make sure all three of us boys get new clothes. The girls head off and I hear Nudge talking about going to look at some jewelry.

I follow Gazzy to the clothes department and, as usual, he gets me a bunch of regular shirts and a bunch of pants with plenty of pockets. Then I hear him finding some for himself. Fang, I'm just "guessing" at the color, is getting black clothes over towards our right.

We pay for the clothes and then we go towards a store with a bunch of different supplies for our bombs. Gazzy and I go up and down the aisles getting the parts we need to restock and some new stuff while Fang follows us. Amazingly, Fang never seems to mind that we get bomb supplies while shopping for clothes. He just follows us and makes sure we pay for everything we get.

We eventually meet up with the girls again and then head out of the mall (Yes, we actually found a mall to eat and shop in… Amazing) and go to an alley to take off. Once we take off we head east, towards where the Itex building is.

After that half an hour that Gazzy said it would take, I hear wings ahead of us.

"Stop." Everyone turns to look at me but I raise my hand, letting them know that I'm listening closely to something.

Yes, it is; it's big wings like ours and they're just staying in place like we are. It's a trap.

Listening closely I notice something odd. Most of those wings sound… familiar. Not completely familiar, but very close to something I've heard before. I think and then realize it; other than Max, five of those beating wings sound almost identical to the Flock's! Then I go through my memories and realize that seven of those wings are almost identical sounding to the other Flock.

"Guys, we have a problem…" They all just stay quiet. "I think… that we have clones of ourselves and the other Flock up ahead. I hear a few more wings, and I don't hear yours Max, but otherwise the sounds are almost identical."

Silence follows this until Max speaks up. "Then let's go kick some clone butt." I smile and we head towards the clones. I put my hands into my pockets, feeling the bombs in there.

When we got there… Let's just say we realized that it was a trap… We were caught in a net that was almost invisible and that they had attached to each of them. We flew right into it and I couldn't have known it was there anyway. Right now we're in cages, but with the other Flock at least.

By sounds I can tell that I'm in a cage with Peter, Wendy, and I'm guessing Icarus, but it sounds like he was moved here at the same time as me. Angel and Gazzy are with Frannie and Ozy. Then Fang and Max are with Max and Matthew, but I haven't heard a peep out of Nudge so I have no idea where she is. I have a feeling she's been gagged or something and is with Max in her cage.

"Iggy, can you check Wendy? She's been out for at least five hours!" I turn to where Peter is calling me from. I nod so he walks over to me and leads me to where Wendy is laying, breathing slowly in her sleep.

I check her heart beat and see that it's normal for a sleeping person. Then I feel along her body to check for any wounds. I feel a bunch of warm areas on her arms and legs which are probably burns. Mostly I think she's just exhausted.

"She has a few burns but otherwise I think she's just pure exhausted."

"How is she burned?! Max, did that maze you go through have any ways to burn?"

"If she hit any of the metal hoops or poles, then at the speed we fly through, yeah, she might have burnt herself."

We are all silent after that. Then, I hear footsteps coming down the hall. The door opens and a bunch of people walk in. The only empty cage left is opened and a person is thrown in; a girl I think because of the slight noise made when the Erasers force her in.

The Erasers leave the room and I can tell everyone is looking at the girl. Icarus and I are facing in her general direction. I hear her sit up and look around.

"I'm Erika. Who are you?"

"I'm Max. I lead five of the others in here. Fang and Nudge are here; Angel and her dog Total are over there with her brother the Gasman, or Gazzy, are over there; and Iggy is over there." I'm guessing she was pointing at all of us in turn.

"I'm also Max and this is my brother Matthew; those are my twin children, Frannie and Ozy; the twins Wendy and Peter are over there; and that's Icarus with them."

"You must be the Flocks! Why am I in here with you all?" Erika's smart if she's trying to figure this out already. Then I tilt my head, a signal that I'm listening closely, and I then hear something from her; wings moving.

"You have wings?" Everyone gasps and I hear my Flock's humming as they turn from Erika to me and back.

"I think… I'd better tell you my story…"

* * *

**I'm home sick today, so I decided to finally post this even though I didn't get any reviews on my last chapter... **

**Erika is named after my friend Erika from school and she's based off of her a bit. Well, her story is in the next chapter, but while I was writing that chapter (It's done too) I realized that chapter 9 is only an overview... SOOO, I'm going to make a Prequel after this Sequel is done. It's going to be her story but with a lot more detail.**

**Anyway, I'm working on chapter ten and I'm slowly getting more chapters written. If I get more reviews, then I'll try to write more, quicker, and faster... Please, just review! Make me happy please.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	9. Story of a Trapped BirdKid

**Chapter Nine: Story of a Trapped Bird-Kid**

**Erika's POV**

I start to tell my story, like I have many times before.

"I only remember being inside, never outside, though I've been into arena made to look like the outside. I've been in cages or tied to something as long as I can remember. I've been forced to go through horrible tests. I've also been moved around… a lot – only in the last few years of my life, though.

"I was originally in Flint, Michigan. I spent twelve years there. I was only out of my cage when I was being tested, and no other time. I was the only one that ever survived a year and a half at a time in my first room. The others… just died within a month. It was horrible and I was forced to watch as they died for a year and a half, not being taken out of there until I was three.

"My closest friend was Victoria, and she's like us. I'm not sure if she's alive still because they moved me to a new branch when I was twelve. We were tested together a lot, but apart as well. We had been really close friends, but I haven't seen her since.

"I also had a friend named Erik. He wasn't like us with the wings. No, he was an enhanced child. He was stronger and faster than every other mutant created yet at this branch. They took him away to have him compete with other mutants from other branches of Itex when we were ten.

"These were my two best friends and we were kept together the longest. After I was moved around, though, I never stayed anywhere for long and never made any more friends because of it. I actually lost track of time how long I spent in each branch after Flint.

"From Flint I was moved to Dubai where I was tested in new ways. Now it wasn't how strong I was, or how fast I was, or even how I was made, but how well I could survive. Here they put me in different climates and even through a fake hurricane. They tested me like this for months before I was moved on. I was sent to Ghana, Africa where I had to survive their fake wilderness. Not the weather this time, but creatures and the wilderness itself.

"From there I went to Honshu, Japan. This time they were trying to see how I would survive alone, so I was put into an isolation tank."

I pause there for a few moments. I look around to see that Fang is grabbing Max's shoulder while she seems to be going through painful memories, like I am. That isolation tank was a torture. They kept me in it for three months and I was ready to die by the time I was set free. Heck, I had thought I had died by then.

Angel looks over at me and then her leader and back at me. I look over at Max, then back at Angel and look sad. I know what she's going through. It's obvious that she been in an isolation tank before; I used to be the same way before. Every time I thought about what that tank had been like, I had gotten horrified. After a while, I just got used to the memory and the fear had gone away.

"I was kept in that isolation tank for three months." All of the younger Max's Flock, as well as Max, look up at me in horror.

"I was put in there for about a day, a bit less." Wow… no wonder they're all staring at me in horror and amazement. A day would be torture for anyone, but after a while, you just forget that you're in the tank and just close in on yourself.

"Three months, and by the time I was let out, I felt like I had died. It was the torture of all tortures, but I passed their "test" with flying colors it seems. I was sent on… I actually have just come from Dublin, Ireland, which is where I was sent.

"Other than Flint, I've been there the longest of all. There they just left me alone for a while. I'm guessing they knew about the tank and knew I'd need time to recover from that. I wasn't tested or anything for a while. Heck, I was just kept in a locked room that even had small windows to show me the grass outside. They kept the room so that I didn't feel enclosed.

"Then… week by week, I was put back into testing. They slowly but surely moved me into more enclosed rooms, to see how I'd react. I never reacted, never thought about it really. They sped it up and then realized that I had no reaction what-so-ever to the room size I was in.

"It took them weeks to figure it out, but when they did, I was moved here. I've been here for about a month, getting tested in all different kinds of ways. First it was how long I could last in different tests, like back at Flint. Now they say I'm going to be put through a test of my brain power on a computer…"

"Computers?" That girl Nudge looks hopeful. I guess she's good with them.

"Yup."

"Nudge, your job will be to do whatever we're supposed to as fast as you can." She looks confused for a moment but then nods in understanding and agreement. I wonder what's up with that… I guess I'll find out later… Maybe…

_Max had me, Angel, tell Nudge extra instructions in her head. I'm not to repeat them to anyone._

What the heck… Hmm… So Angel can read minds and send thoughts into other's heads… That sounds very familiar… This means that she has powers too… I wonder how many of these other bird-kids have powers.

"You have powers?!?!" I turn to stare at Angel before I start to glare.

"Erika, you have powers?" I turn in surprise. Frannie is the one asking, and I haven't heard a peep from her.

I nod and then shape-shift into a wolf. Everyone just back and I hold in a smile. Wait… not everyone jumped. Iggy and Icarus **(A/N: I just realized something as I wrote this… the blind kids are the ones that start with I! What does James Patterson have against the letter I? =O) **didn't jump. It's as if they didn't see it…

I look at them closely and then it hits me, they can't see at all; they're blind. They haven't looked at my face properly the whole time! Hm… this is interesting.

"Don't… be a wolf… please!" Nudge is gasping that out.

I raise an eyebrow and turn my wolf head to the right. They don't like wolves? Well… I guess the Erasers are wolves, but not like this exactly… or am I like an Eraser right now?

I shift into a monkey this time and anyone could see that the Gasman wants to come and do… _something _to me. I shift back to human form; his look is freaking me out.

"You have more powers, don't you?" I look at Ozy; this is the first time he's spoken.

"How do you know…?" He smiles.

"The same way Angel did, but I didn't blurt it out earlier; I left that to her." She gives him a look.

Oh great… TWO mind-readers now. This isn't going to be fun at all.

"Yeah, I have more, but I can only show you all one more most likely… The other will be harder to show off, though it might be possible." They all nod.

I concentrate on the area next to the Gasman and think about myself moving there, and the next thing anyone knows, I'm next to the Gasman. Everyone is looking around, trying to see where I went, so… I tap the Gasman on the shoulder. His reaction is hilarious: He yelps and jumps up, hits his head on the top of the cage, spins around as he falls down, and lands on his butt, facing me.

I'm kind enough not to laugh and offer my hand to help him up. He accepts it and stands up. He's staring at me in amazement and I'm trying not to laugh still.

"You – you can teleport!" I nod. "Awesome!!! Can you take others with you while you teleport?" I nod again. "Take me to Iggy!" I smile and grab his hand, concentrating on the area in between the two blind boys. We suddenly appear next to them and both of them move with a start, surprised because my teleportation makes no noise and then they suddenly realized we were next to them.

"Ah! Don't do that!" We had really surprised Icarus.

"Sorry, but Gazzy here wanted to be with his friend." Icarus frowns but Iggy and Gazzy are both smiling.

"You all wanted to see my other power? Well, since I have people around me, I can try to show you. Like I said, it might be possible for it to work." Gazzy looks up at me in amazement. "Hey, Gazzy, wanna help me show it off?"

"Yeah!"

"Okay, when I say so, I want you to try and grab my hand again. Okay?" He nods.

I concentrate on putting a shield around my body so that it's like a mould on me. "Go ahead." He reaches his hand out and he's about to touch my arm when he's suddenly stopped.

Frowning, he tries to push harder with the same result; he's stopped short about half a foot from my body. He looks at me closely and then realizes that this is my power.

"What is this? I can't get any closer than this." He puts his hand half a foot from my arm.

"A force field." His eyes go wide and he gasps. Around the room I hear more gasps.

"Can that force field go farther from your body?" I turn to Fang, the quietest person in the room but also the speaker.

"Yeah, but I have to concentrate a lot." He nods and looks like he's deep in thought, but he's always looked like that since I first got in here…

I feel exhausted so I concentrate on my own cage and teleport back there. Then I sit down against the side of the cage. Using my powers can exhaust me if I use them too much and even more if I use all three at once. This wasn't as exhausting as that, but it was more exhausting than if I just used one of them. It's been too long since I've used my powers this often, which doesn't help.

"Shouldn't you put Gazzy back in his cage?" I look over at Icarus.

"Do you think that the whitecoats will care? They all _know _about my power and I've mixed up people and their cages so often that they just learn to live with it and ignore it. They don't assign cages anymore if I'm in the room." He nods and sits down.

I feel myself falling asleep when the door opens silently. Looking up, I see a group of people. A closer look shows me that I recognize most of them: Jeb Batchelder, Anne Walker, the Director (who hates me), Omega II, Ari II, Hades, Slayer, and Wolf. The rest look like… Well, like these two Flocks here.

What is going on here?

* * *

**Okay, again, my friend Erika had a part in writing this chapter. She helped me think of the powers _and _where Erika went before she got to Australia. I hope you enjoyed reading this. I'm working on a prequel with a huge part of her full story in my spare time around writing this. I have chapter 10 of this story hand-written and just have to type it up.**

**I wrote a one-shot about the day Iggy lost his sight called The Day He Lost His Sight, so check it out and tell me what you think of it. I'm also working on other one-shots that I have mostly typed up and I'll be posting them between updates of this story, so keep an eye out for them.**

**Please, if you read this at all, review. I'm getting 3 reviews at the most and normally 1 or 2 a chapter... I really want hits/reviews but I'm not getting them at all. If I don't get more soon... That prequel will be the last thing I write for this plotline... Review, please, and tell your friends... :)**

**Edited: 11/11/09 and again 4/4/10 (This has been edited to match the story Story of a Trapped Birdkid which is updated once a week and is up so you can look at my profile to find it. I hope you go look.)**


	10. A Dream Come True

**Chapter Ten: A Dream Come True**

**Gazzy's POV**

I'm… staring… at… MYSELF!!! How am I staring at myself? How is this possible? This isn't possible!

My mind is racing out of proportion. I'm trying to figure out how this is possible. Then it hits me: Clones. They've made more clones.

I'm not here and now anymore, I'm back in South Florida by Miami and I'm eight again. Max II was in Max's place, trying to be Max. She was identical to Max, but how she acted and thought was different; she was different.

I fly back into myself, here and now, and look at the new arrivals more closely. These clones have no life in them, but at the same time… they have a lot more life than others realize. These clones have as much life as the rest of us, but they're forced to keep it hidden almost all the time.

These clones are as tortured as the rest of us are, but they're tortured in a different way. I realize this and understand that the older block members are too, well, ignorant to notice it and Angel is too young. The other Flock has just been away from these things too long to see anything like this. Me, on the other hand? I'm just perfect to see all of this stuff in them.

Looking at the rest I see Omega II, Jeb, Anne, and the Director as well as three others I don't know. I also see… it isn't possible! Not again! I see Ari, but he looks like a seven year old boy with brown wings, brown eyes, and brown spiky hair. He has no Eraser in him at all that I can see. He's also standing in Fang's usual spot next to Omega II… I guess he's second-in-command of that group…

I turn back to the three boys that I don't know. They have more muscle than the rest, but less than a normal Eraser… This is new and very interesting…

Looking at the Flocks more closely, I see that Max is missing! They didn't make a clone of her? Weird… I wonder why. Maybe they don't want someone with a stubborn leader streak there, or they realized how big of a failure Max II was and gave up on cloning Max…

Jeb steps forward, interrupting my thoughts. "Flock, I don't believe you've met Generation Replica, also known as Generation R." He's gesturing to the bird-kid group behind him.

He then steps back and Anne moves forward, as if they had this rehearsed. That is possible actually… "We have something we'd like to tell you," Anne says and the rest all nod in agreement to her statement. "Itex has changed. We've got new goals and new ways to reach them."

The Director moves forward before Anne even starts to move back; I guess it wasn't rehearsed very well. "We're making friends with all the experiments and we wish to train you to make you stronger. Then we wish to have you help us save the world." She pauses and in that pause Angel speaks into our heads.

_**And then they're going to go back to their old selves, keeping us locked up and testing us.**_

Yup, sounds like Itex to me. Still… why are they suddenly changing gears to SAVING the world? They were the ones trying to DESTROY it… This is all very odd.

_**Everyone is thinking the same way as you Gazzy, but both of the Maxes and Erika want to follow along, so we're going to have to also.**_

Great… I know Max is a great leader, and even better at getting us out when we're trapped, but this is obviously a trap and she wants to walk right into it! Sometimes, I just don't understand Max.

"So how does this _training _work?" At least she's still Max enough to put emphasis on training. "Are you going to make us fly to the moon? The sun? Oh wait, make us swim to the deepest part of the sea!" She just loves that new power from our adventures in Hawaii, doesn't she? I try not to sigh and succeed – as usual.

"Of course not. You're all going to be working on computers, learning all you can in a week with very detailed instructions."

Wait a moment here, _computers_?! You _have got _to be kidding me. We're going to be trained with computers? How can _computers _train us, the Flock, to do anything? Well, this is going to be interesting.

The Director gestures to Jeb and he shows us a packet with about eighteen pages in it. Oh, joy, a huge packet to follow! "These packets," The Director continues, "Should teach you everything you need to know and keep you busy." Keep us busy? Why in the world would they want that?

Instead of trying to figure that out, I think about the _training _they have planned for us. First, Nudge will be done the first day; she's just that good with computers. Second, I'll be done the third day at the latest and have plenty of time for bomb-building. Third, Iggy and Icarus are blind and won't be able to do anything… Fourth, and last but not least, the real WILL take the full week.

"What about Iggy and Icarus?" Either Max had the same train of thought as I did, or Angel read my mind and told her…

"Who? Oh, the blinds ones. Yes, well, they'll be given computers with headphones that will tell them what you're all learning." Darn, Iggy will be as busy as the others! Unless… yeah, we could set the headphones up so that Iggy and Icarus can hear them but be doing other stuff.

"Are you in kids?" The eldest of the older Flock, the rest of my Flock, and I all give Jeb such a look that he takes a step back. "Sorry… Are you all in?"

I look over at the Maxes just as they _both _nod at Jeb. Jeb, Anne, and the Director all smile; or Jeb smiles, Anne gives us a small grin, and the Director's eyes light up a quite bit.

The clones let us out of our cages and then lead us, them following our lovely trio, to a different room. I can tell from the moment I step into the room that it's a dream come true.

Not only does this room have five types of each desktops and laptops that aren't even heard of yet, but they have so many "outdated" electronics – that aren't even outdated because some of them are coming out within a year – in here that Ig and me could make a thousand bombs and barely dent the storage. Definitely a haven for pyromaniacs.

"Hey Ig." I muttered so that Iggy, who is right next to me, knows to listen, "Some of the best high-tech, "outdated" stuff I've ever seen in here. There's a whole damn lot of it too."

"You serious?" His quiet voice holds some amazement.

"Dead serious."

"Think Max will let us build with this stuff? Maybe we can get Icarus and Matt to join in."

"Who knows, but she may. Uh… Matt is staring at the stuff, with a look in his eye like you get when you want to make bombs or have an evil idea."

"Hey!"

"Just saying. Oh, Icarus is listening and seems interested." Icarus nods. "He just nodded in agreement to what I said."

"Boys," Max groans, "Can you _come on_?" I didn't realize until then that the rest of our big group were already at the newest computers that are actually plugged in.

"Coming," I call back, "_Mom…_" I mutter under my breath after Max turns away and we're walking towards the rest. Iggy snickers quietly. I smile slightly and see Angel is trying very hard not to laugh. It makes me happy to know that I can still make Angel, my little sister, laugh.

We're each shown to our own computers and given our own packets to use; Iggy and Icarus are given headphones with the microphones and have the programs all set up to start.

"Have fun all of you!" Jeb calls as they leave the room. We all roll our eyes.

After a few moments Angel says, "They're gone and we have nothing watching us. They really think that we're going to do this and are leaving us without a way to watch us and only a locked door to keep us in the room.

"Does that mean Gaz and I can make bombs with this awesome stuff?" Iggy's making it very blunt…

Max sighs, "Yes… go ahead, but don't expect us to help you if Itex gives us a test on the stuff because we _aren't _telling you the lessons!"

I smirk and go over to Iggy's computer and, taking the headphones from him, put the headphones on the ground where we're going to work. I go back to the computer and turn up the volume on them. "Won't have to ask you."

"Fine." Max says with another sigh. "Just don't blow up the room yet or get caught making bombs."

"Don't worry Max, we won't." I turn to Iggy and we both say "Yes!" I even throw my right fist into the air.

I suddenly hear whispering that I hadn't heard before and then it stops just before Icarus asks, "Hey, can Matt and I help?" Iggy and I grin, nodding eagerly with confirmation sounds; more help would be sweet.

"Are those two going to teach my two how to make bigger and stronger bombs?" The older Max whispers to Max, just loud enough for the rest of us to hear.

"Probably." Max replies while nodding and giving me a meaningful look. I smile innocently and she shakes her head, smiling.

"Wait, you four are making _bombs_?!" I turn to Erika just as she brushes her brown hair out of her brown eyes so that she can see better.

"Yeah, we are." Iggy answers. "Why are you asking? Have a problem with it?"

"No… but it just isn't what I expected."

"What did you expect then?" This got even Fang interested.

"I'm not sure, but I've heard all about you all and… I didn't expect you all to be like this. I expected to find… I'm not sure what I expected to find, but it wasn't bomb-building, ability-using, bird-kids."

"Well that's what you've got because that's what we are." Max is being even more blunt than Iggy had been before with the bombs.

Spooked a bit, Iggy and I start towards the technology, me telling Ig what everything is and him telling me what to take and what to leave. Then, when we have enough stuff, we go to the spot where the headphones are and listen to the lesson while we show Matt and Icarus what to do. They copy us.

Erika watches here and there while she's working on her computer. She has a look in here eye which tells me that she's still confused and survived.

By the time someone comes to pick us up a few hours later, we have just over thirteen-hundred bombs (Four people and such good supplies makes making bombs very fast) between the four of us and enough supplies in our many pockets for another seven-hundred. We've also gotten through half of the packet.

I look in my pockets, as we walk to our room for the night, at the tiny bombs in there. Ig and I had decided to make small but very powerful bombs. They only have a diameter of three inches, but they each hold about half the power that Big Boy has packed way back then. These bombs are all remote-controlled by the watches Ig and I had made (Spares just in case) and can only be turned on by turning the button clock-wise and then pushing it down. An avian-hybrid has to be the one doing it for it to work; it's the DNA we have that makes them work.

I smile at our triumph about our success of a bomb. Even Icarus and Matthew had been able to make five-hundred between them; perfectly made too.

We're all shown into a brand new room with an actual bed for each of us! I also can't see any visible or hidden cameras; even though it doesn't mean there aren't any it means that there's less of a chance of them. We're then left alone and all of us hear the door lock.

Looking closer at the beds I see our names on our own beds, clothes to fit each of us, backpacks, and dinner. Dinner is fried chicken, mashed potatoes, and peas – it all smells delicious.

"Total!" I look up from my bed to see Angel scooping up Total.

"I was wondering when you all would get here. Oh, I tested all the food; all safe." We all smile and start to eat – except Erika.

"You all trust a _talking _**dog**?!"

"Yes, we do. He's with us and comes with us on our trip. He can also fly; show her Total." I rarely see Angel this hurt…

Total opens his wings and Erika's mouth drops open as she stares in disbelief at Total.

"We trust him Erika, and so should you. Just eat your food."

Erika nods and we all go back to eating. While I'm eating, I think. Why aren't they watching us? Why are they being so nice? Do they have a separate plan that Angel couldn't pick up on (No offense Angel).

I finish eating, and since I have no answers, I go check out the other door I hadn't noticed before. Hmm, a bathroom… Well, since I'm here…

I go to the bathroom and as I'm washing my hands, I let off one of my special "surprises" that I'm named for. I decide to leave the fan on.

"Might not wanna go in there – if you know what I mean," I say as I sit down on my bed.

"Ew, Gazzy! Not again. Guys, don't go into the bathroom for at least half an hour… Even with the fan on, it'll still stink."

"Thanks, Nudge. You're so kind." I fake being upset and she starts to apologize until I start laughing and she actually goes quiet in annoyance.

Ig comes over to my bed and we work on bombs for a bit more; Icarus and Matt join us a few minutes later.

By the time Max says it's time for bed, we have all two thousand made and split up so that we each have five-hundred on us or in our backpacks, which we'll be carrying from now on.

Everyone says good night and I lay down on my bed in my new pajamas. I think about how sweet of a day this was. Half done for the week lesson-wise, two thousand bombs, enough supplies for over a million bombs, a bed, fresh clothes, real food, and a bathroom. Plus, we were all together.

Not even the questions in the back of my mind could ruin this very good day.

* * *

**I hope you all liked this chapter. Sorry it took so long to get up, but I've had a lot of computer problems lately. Hopefully I'll get chapter 11 typed up this weekend so that I can post it soon, but I make no promises.**

**I'm hoping to have this story finished before July so that I won't leave it on hold for a month while I'm out of town. Hopefully all the chapters will be written within a weeka fter I get out of school so that I'll only have to post them.**

**You all should check out The Story of A Bird Kid by Shayne Rider. It's really good.**

**Please review and tell me what you think of my story. I love getting reviews and they sometimes help me write faster.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	11. Our Mission to Change The World Part I

**Chapter Eleven: Our Mission to Change the World Part I**

**Ari II's POV**

Omega says that the Director wishes to see us in her office immediately. We all file out of the room we've been in and follow Omega in our normal formation; I'm next to Omega.

We enter the room and stand at attention by the wall, but not touching it with our backs, while the Director finishes what she's doing. I personally think that she takes extra time whenever we're here just to test our patience, but we have an enormous amount of patience so it never works. We've been here for ten minutes already, just standing here, yet my feet don't hurt and I'm just plain bored.

Finally she seems to notice us and turns to face us. "At ease." We all sink into the chairs to our right but face the Director with our complete attention. "I've called you here because we have a _very _important mission for you.

"You all are going to capture three important members of the CSM, or the Coalition to Stop the Madness. First you will capture Dr. John Abate in Los Angeles, California. Then you will capture Dr. Brigid Dwyer from Maryland. Finally, you'll capture Dr. Valencia Martinez, Maximum Ride's mother, from Arizona.

"We expect you to use intelligence so that the rest of the CSM doesn't know who's capturing the scientists, stealth so you do it fast and quietly, and the special traits you each bring to Generation R. You have one week. This is your mission to _change the world_.

"Now, you have your orders; get moving!"

"Ma'am, yes ma'am!" All of us say at the same time, as we were trained to do.

We all jump up and rush out after Omega down the hall into our bedroom. Rushing smoothly to our beds, we all pack our clothes and basic things like Swiss Army Knives, rope, duct tape, weapons, and lock picks into our backpacks and the pockets of our cargo pants.

Within ten minutes, we're in the jet cargo bay, with our packs, and are waiting for jeeps to be loaded onto the jet we'll be using to get around.

While we're waiting, Omega gives me an almost invisible ear piece that's a walkie talkie so we can talk. I put it into my right ear and can feel it camouflaging itself so that it's the same color as my ear and even more invisible than before.

Finally our jeeps are onboard and we can get onto the jet. We all take our seats, I'm next to Omega, and get ready for a silent flight.

* * *

Many hours later, we're landing at a private airport just outside of L.A. We get into the jeeps; I have to sit in the back of Omega's car so that the police won't stop us because I'm only "eleven" to them. We then head out to the border of the city.

When we get there we head towards the address of the target, hoping that his home will be empty at this time of day so that we can bug it. In theory, he should be at work since it's almost one o'clock, which means his house should be empty.

We get to the house and see no car, but we scout the area out anyway because you never know if someone is hiding, even if it is unlikely. Whenever I pass someone, the same thing is done: we shake our heads no. There are no signs of life or any good security. For security he only has locks on all the windows as well as a standard house alarm.

"Come to the porch and bring anyone near you with," Omega orders me through the ear piece.

"Yes sir!" I look around, see about half the group, and whistle sharply.

When I whistle, every head snaps towards me and I motion with my arm for them to follow me as I walk towards the porch. They follow me without question or even thinking about it – I'm second-in-command.

We go to the porch and see that the others are all over there with Omega already. Everyone crowds around him to hear what orders he has to give out to us.

"Hades, Slayer, you two are going to work together to get the door opened undetected. Hades, you pick the lock and open the door. Slayer, you go inside and inside and turn off the alarm.

"Then, Wolf, take these bugs," Omega hands Wolf a handful of tiny, undetectable bugs, "and bug every room in the house with at least two. Yes, even the bathroom." Wolf had just been about to ask; you could see it on his face, so Omega added that.

"Hades, Slayer, you have two minutes. Wolf, you have three. Go!"

They all rush to the door. Hades is already picking the lock. Slayer has a handheld computer that has a cord attached to it so that when the cord is attached to any electronic, it can shut it right off.

Hades swings the door open in thirty seconds flat, but Slayer and Wolf are already flying through the house before I can blink. The alarm is going off, but within moments of the door opening, it shuts off. No one will be suspicious.

Slayer comes out of the door, pleased with himself, and we all listen to Wolf moving almost silently around the house. To a human, he is silent, but to those with very enhanced hearing, he's still hearable, if only slightly.

A minute after the door had swung open, Wolf comes out and Hades uses his lock pick to lock the door back up so it looks as if we had never been here. Slayer uses the computer to wirelessly turn the alarm back on so that nothing seems wrong with it.

We walk off Dr. Abate's property and look back at it. Everything looks exactly as it had the first time we had even set eyes on it. Not even the grass looks touched.

We all go back to the jeeps and in them, heading back to the airport. We then go to the most private lounge and have food brought to us while Omega describes the plan the two of us had thought up in the jeep on the way back to the airport since the two of us had ordered the others to let us be alone in the jeep.

"We shall listen to the bugs until we find out where he's going. Then, we'll trick him by sending in Angel, Ozzy, Frannie, and Gazzy. You four will pretend to be the originals and tell him that you got separated from the rest.

"Then, Fang and Matthew will "find" them and do all the usual stuff like thanking Dr. Abate. While he's busy with you, the rest of us will sneak up from behind, hood him, then tie him up, and we'll all bring him back here for transport.

"Got it?" Everyone nods. "Good, but have some lunch now while he's not at home so that you have energy." We all smile and dig into our lunches.

A few hours later, I'm taking my turn of listening to the bugs for an hour when Dr. Abate finally gets home. It sounds like he's on the phone.

"Yeah. Mm-hm. Of course, but I need a day off tomorrow. I'm only going to that secluded beach with the small ponds to the southwest. Yes, I'll be careful Valencia. Max? No, I haven't heard from either Flock, but they've gone three weeks without calling before, so don't worry about it; they're probably just busy. Bye." The breaks in his talking are so small that I figure he usually does most of the talking.

He hangs up the phone and I call Icarus over to listen to the bugs while I tell Omega exactly what we want to hear.

"He's going to a secluded beach _alone _tomorrow," I say by way of greeting as I enter Omega's room.

"Did you hear this? If so," he continues without waiting for an answer, guessing I heard it, "then did he say where it is and when he's going?"

"Yes, I'm the one who heard it. He's going to a beach to the southwest that has a bunch of small ponds and he's going tomorrow for a day off. He wants to relax." I smirk slightly at that.

Omega paces the room for a minute, thinking, before he turns back to me. "How did you learn this? Like, why did he say it?"

"He was on the phone with Dr. Valencia Martinez, who is, by the way, worried about her daughter, Max, and the rest since they haven't called in a few days."

"The Director expected there to be worry about them, which is why we have to act fast.

"I was actually thinking we should send on Hades, Slayer, Wolf, and Wendy to Maryland so they can start scouting early. Find out her schedule and bug the place. Wendy in charge, of course, with Hades as second-in-command."

"I think that's a good idea. Send them on tonight, though, so that they have all day tomorrow to scout." Omega nods and gets up, leaving the room with me on his tail.

We both get to the lounge and whistle sharply, calling any not already in here to the room. They all rush in, knowing it's important since we both had whistled, and sit when we motion to.

"There's been a slight change of plans," Omega starts. "We're going to split up into two groups."

He looks at me and I start, but with a new and better plan in mind that I know he'll agree to. "Omega is going to be taking Fang, Wendy, Hades, Slayer, and Wolf with him to Maryland. You're going to watch the next target and try to catch her before the rest of us get there.

"I'll be leading the group here since we already have the place and it will give you all an extra day of hunting. We'll meet you in Maryland or Arizona in late morning, the day after tomorrow."

Everyone nods, including Omega who's nodding in agreement and staring at me in amazement. I motion to Omega, taking the heat off of me and giving it back to him. He snaps into leader mode instantly, shaking off his amazement to make it seem like he knew this plan the whole time.

"Right. Wendy, Fang, Hades, Slayer, and Wolf, get your gear together. We leave in half an hour. Nudge, go tell one of the jets to get ready. Go!"

They all rush to their jobs and I follow Omega to his room. He packs his bag before turning to me.

"That… is an excellent plan, Ari. One real leader in each group, both groups going after a scientist. I only have one question: why is Fang with me?"

I smirk slightly. "Remember her file? She likes Fang, even though he _loves_ Maximum Ride. He'll be the perfect bait. I'll send Nudge in his place for my mission."

"You have this all thought out within a minute or less?" I nod. "Amazing and very good. I'm putting this into the report for sure. Now… I'd better go." I nod again and follow him to the loading deck.

Just before he gets on the jet, Omega turns to me. "You'll make a great leader and won't fail." Then he gets on the plane.

* * *

Early the next morning, we're flying above the beach, which we found easily. By we I mean Nudge, Matt, Frannie, Ozy, Gazzy, Iggy, Icarus, Angel, and me; my mini- Generation R.

At about seven o'clock, he comes to the beach. I signal us all down to the west where some trees are. He's setting up a towel and an umbrella while we tuck in our wings.

After he's done setting up and has been relaxing for a few minutes, I motion the four youngest (other than me) out onto the beach. They run out towards Dr. Abate, looking a bit lost.

"Angel! Gazzy, Ozy, Frannie! What are you four doing here? What are you doing here _alone_?" He's very surprised to see them.

"We were playing and got separated from the rest." Angel's following the plan perfectly and sounding like an innocently little girl while she does it.

"Yeah," Ozy continues, "and then we saw you down here on the beach a minute ago."

Gazzy nods. "We came down here since we know you and we're lost."

"I'm glad you all trust me enough to come down to me. Now, let's see if we can't find the others."

I motion for Nudge and Matthew to go in now.

"There you guys are! We've been looking all over for you! We even split up to search for you. Oh, hi Dr. Abate." No wonder the original Nudge's mouth is usually covered, she really can talk when she wants to.

"Are you kids going to need a phone?" He takes his out as I motion the rest of the group to forward and they follow behind me.

"No, it's ok. We have a spot to meet the rest at in a bit."

"Oh, okay. Well, we're been worried since none of you have called." We sneak up behind him.

I'm holding one of those black hoods, and even though I smell it with my enhanced sense of smell, I'm fine. When I was made, the scientists made it so that I could last five minutes with this hood half a foot from my nose and not feel dizzy. I can last two to three minutes with one _on_ my head before it knocks me out. Very helpful and I'm the only one with this, so I usually handle the hoods.

"Sorry about that…" I smile at Nudge just before I slip the hood over his head, him not even knowing I was there.

Once the hood is over his head, Iggy ties his hands behind his back with rope. Icarus helps him sit down. We all watch (yes, in Generation R, the two blind kids aren't blind anymore) as he calls over onto the ground, out cold.

I smile. "Mission complete, guys. Great job all of you. Now let's get him back to base and rest up before we head over to the next target."

One down, two more to go.

* * *

**Look, I _know_ I should have updated long before now, but I've been very busy and real life got crazy. I had Finals in school, I kept getting distracted, I wasn't in the mood to write, and the worst reason is Shingles. Shingles are known as the second attack of the chicken pox (which I've never had, oddly enough) and they are painful, itchy, and not something I ever want again. I still have them, but they're healing and there's nothing else the doctors can do so... I'm going back to my normal routine now and I should have chapters to post. **

**Chapter 12 is typed and ready to post, so I'll put it up in a few days. Please try to get people to read this story... It would make me feel so much happier.**

******You all should check out The Story of A Bird Kid by Shayne Rider. It's really good. Also, look at the stories of my other reviewers and my favorite Maximum Ride stories. They're all really good.**

**Please review, they'll make me post chapter 12 faster.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	12. Our Mission to Change The World Part II

**Chapter Twelve: Our Mission to Change the World Part II**

**Hades' POV**

I follow Omega II off the plane along with the others. We each have our packs and a kit of surveillance supplies. We're going to go find a payphone for Fang to use to call Dr. Brigid Dwyer.

After a few minutes of searching the streets, we find one. Fang takes out some quarters, picks up the phone, and puts them in. Using the number that we had gotten from Dr. Dwyer's file, Fang II calls her. She answers and with my enhanced hearing, I listen to the conversation.

"Hello? Is this someone from the CSM?" She asks right off.

"Kind of; it's Fang."

"Fang! You don't know how relieved I am to hear from you. Are you okay?"

"We're _all_ ok. Both Flocks."

"That's great to hear. I have a couple of questions, though: Why are you calling? Where are you? How many branches have you taken out? Have you heard from the other Flock?"

"That's more than two questions."

"Well? Answer them all anyway!"

"We're in Maryland, close to your home. We've taken out over twenty branches. We called the other Flock to catch up with them a few days ago.

"I called because I was wondering if we could have dinner at your house."

"All of you?"

"No."

"Just you and me?"

"Yeah."

I can imagine what she's thinking, as can everyone else. _Alone time with Fang; this is a dream come true. It really is a dream come true, except…_

"What about Max? Aren't you two dating or something?"

"Well, yeah, but she doesn't mind. I'm just visiting a friend."

"Ah, okay." We can all hear the disappointment in her voice. She had really wanted those two to be broken up. She didn't want it to be dinner between two friends.

"So, can I come over for dinner?"

"Of course! I'd love to have you over for dinner, Fang. How does six o'clock sound?"

"It sounds great. I'll be there."

They both hang up and Fang turns to look at the rest of us. We all know what Dr. Dwyer was thinking: she could use this as a chance to get "Fang" to like her again and not want Max anymore.

"Good job Fang." Omega says. "She truly thought you were the original, which just shows how little they know about them.

"Now, let's go do some surveillance of her house so we know what protection she might have."

He turns towards the jeeps and gets into the first one. Fang gets into the second one, so I get in next to Omega in the first jeep. The rest pile in after us.

We drive to the street next to the one she lives on and fly up onto the house across the street from hers. Just after we land, a car pulls up and two men get out from the back. They walk up to her door, knock on it, and escort her to the car where they all get in before the driver takes them where ever she wants to go.

"I think from this action, we can say that Ari and his group were successful in their capture of Dr. Abate." Omega states. "The CSM won't be taking any chances with their top scientists. This means that after this, the third target will be the hardest, but that's what will make this fun.

"Until then, we watch to see how long they guards stay with her at her house. I'm going to guess that they only stay with her outside of the house because they came to pick her up and weren't here already. Tonight should be perfectly safe."

I nod along with the rest before taking out a pair of glasses that none of the others have. These let me see the security on a house and/or lock because I'm usually the one to break into the houses. The glasses look like sunglasses, so no one outside of our group realizes what they are.

I put them on, press a small button that looks like it's part of the design, and look at the target's house. She has slightly better security than the other house, but not by much. Her house door has a double lock that would take longer to pick, alarms on all the windows and doors and well as locks, and she has motion sensors by the chimney.

I mutter these things under my breath and everyone else nods as they hear what I'm saying. You can tell they think this isn't going to change anything, but Omega and I know better. She has better security and it looks brand new, so these people work fast and well.

Suddenly I suck in my breath, making everyone look at me. I have a few more features on these glasses and had turned on the heat sensors to see that there are three people in the house. Changing the glasses to a sensor that looks for bugs, I see bugs all over the house. There's no way we can bug the place now.

I turn to the last setting of my glasses, the signal setting. There are three signals going out of the house. One blocks all camera signals that don't know the code to break it; another blocks listening tools that don't know the code; and the last blocks all computers and other stuff like that from taking information her computer, phone, or television.

Looking at the signals, I think I know how to figure out the code for sound, but it would have to be a wire bug and not the wireless ones we like the best. These signals work better on ones without any wires at all and the older bugs can break through it better.

I sigh, take off my glasses, and turn to the others. "We have some problems…"

All of their heads snap even straighter. "What problems?"

I turn to my leader before replying. "They have signals going out to stop all bugs and information grabbers. There are also three people in there right now. They also have their own bugs placed all over the house."

"Can we use our own bugs in the house?" Slayer asks while taking out his special kit of electronic and computer supplies that allow him to do a lot.

"We might be able to work together to figure out the code so that we can get an old fashion bug into there on Fang… It'd have to have a wire and go to a box, though, but it can be one of the smaller versions and we can hide it from any detection things.

"It would take both you and me though, Slayer. I don't know how long it would take, but we could probably have it done by five."

"Get it done then. The rest of us will work on the plan for the evening. Let's get back to base." We all follow Omega to the jeeps, but this time I sit next to Slayer.

"Okay, so I got the signal saved onto my glasses and we can hook them up to a computer to use it to try and figure out the sequence and how to block it without the block being noticed."

"Yeah, that much I can do if we have the proper information. We'll have to work fast though, so we might not be able to get the code down if we don't have enough time. We'll try to find a way to block it before we go after the code. If we find the code, then that will be even better because it will make it even harder for the CSM to realize we have a bug in there."

We both continue talking about how we can do this until we get back to base and move into my room to use the best computers Itex has to offer. We work for about six hours, only taking breaks to eat and drink quickly.

We hear a knock on the door, so I go to get it. It's Omega. He walks into the room and surveys what we've done so far. It's already four o'clock.

"How's the bug coming?"

Slayer looks up from the screen. "It's ready to block and we just got the code about ten minutes ago. We're trying to input it into the bug so that it'll hide the fact that we're blocking the signal. We'll be done in about half an hour if we keep working at this pace."

I nod in agreement and then go back to the computer, my hands flying across the keyboard as I input codes so that the bug will do what we want.

Omega stays in the room and when we're done twenty minutes later, faster than we thought, he comes over to see all that we've done about three times faster than it normally would take to do this sort of thing.

"This looks very complicated. Are you both _sure_ it'll work and keep them from knowing anything?"

"Yes, we're both 100% sure. We've been working on it for hours and it's exactly how it should be. Here's the bug." I hand Omega the small black circle with a thin wire that leads to a small box; the bug.

He nods in thanks and leaves the room. We both follow; ready to find some real food after all that work. We get into the lounge and find a table with food set up so we grab plates and get some chicken, potatoes, salad, peas, and some of everything else that there is.

Omega comes into the room a few minutes later with the rest of the group and they all grab some food and sit down with us. Omega still has the bug and it's next to him on his chair. Fang is the only one not eating because he has the dinner in about an hour and a half.

When we're all done eating, Slayer and I nabbing seconds in our hunger, Omega starts to talk. "We have the bug prepared thanks to Hades and Slayer, and it's almost time for Fang to get ready to go.

"Now's the time to go over the plan. What we're going to do is have Fang go there, eat with her, and spend a few hours there. Then, when it's time for him to go, she'll walk him to the door and most likely come out to say good night. When she closes the door, that's the signal for the rest of us to grab her from our hiding places on the porch.

"Those men inside of the house, if they're still there, will know within a few minutes that she's gone, but we'll be long gone by then. Hades, it's your job to check and see if the men are still there when we get there." I nod. "Anyone confused about the plan?" We all shake our heads. "Good.

"Fang, let's get the bug in place and you ready to go. Everyone else, get your packs together and we'll leave in ten minutes."

Slayer and I go over to Omega and Fang to help put the bug in place and then we go grab our stuff. Omega has his pack, so he's helping Fang get dressed in nicer clothes.

When we all met outside where the jeeps are, Fang is in jeans and a nice white shirt. He obviously has holes cut into the shirt for his wings, but it doesn't look like it.

Wolf turns towards the jeeps, but Omega puts a hand on his should and shakes his head. Unfurling his wings, we all realize that we're going to be flying this time. It makes sense since the Flocks don't have cars or jeeps, so she'll be expecting Fang by air.

We fly quickly and land on the roof across the street within minutes. I put on my glasses and use the heat sensor. This time I see only one person in the house. I guess she doesn't want the people to see her and Fang having dinner.

Thinking about that, I decide to check my other sensors. There are no bugs! She had them remove the bugs. The signals are still going out, but they're the same and won't be a problem.

"Two really good things. One, she's alone. Two, there are no bugs in the house at all."

Every head snaps towards me. "What about the signals?"

"Don't worry, Slayer, they're the same as before still." He sighs in relief at that.

I take off my glasses and look at my watch to see that it's almost six. I guess everyone else had noticed because Omega motions for Fang to go down and so Fang uses his wings to slow his drop down.

We all put on headphones so we can hear the bug. We hear him knocking on the door and her coming to answer it. She opens the door.

"Good evening Fang. It's so nice to see you."

"It is good to see you, Brigid."

"Come in, please come in."

We watch both of them enter the house and then jump off the roof to go down and find hiding places on the porch. We all get into hiding spots while Fang is led into the living room.

"Please, sit. Would you like anything to drink?"

"Just some water would be fine."

"Okay. I'll be right back.

"Here you go. Now, what have you been up to? I know you've been taking out branches of Itex, but what have you seen?"

"Well, we've been all over the U.S. I've seen many different life styles and cultures. The east and the west are very different. The north and the south are as well. It's been quite an experience."

"It sounds like it. It must be amazing to be able to travel around the nation, or even around the world."

"Well, you've traveled, but it is amazing to see it from the air and not just from the ground."

"True, but come, let's eat."

I guess they hadn't been in the living room, or they had food set up in there because the next hour is spent with them eating and making small talk about the CSM. After they finish, they turn on the television. I guess they turn it on at the beginning of a rerun of an episode of _CSI Crime Scene Investigators_. We listen to that for a while.

After it's done, they turn off the TV and start to talk again. "So, how was dinner?"

"It was delicious, thanks for making it and having me over."

"Oh, it was nothing. It's been great to see you again. I just wish you could stay longer." She has a hopeful tone and it's obvious she's hoping that her dinner made him want to stay with her.

"So do I, but we have to get going tomorrow. We don't get to stop much, but since we were in town, Max let me come here for a night while the others get some time to themselves."

"That's really nice of her." Disappointment is obvious in her voice, though it seems like she's trying to hide it the best she can.

"She's been pushing us hard lately, so she's giving us all a break. Everyone's out and about, doing their own thing tonight."

"Well, I think it's time for me to get ready for bed. Can I walk you to the door?"

"Of course."

We all snap into position because it's time to grab the target and get ready to go. The door opens and we see two shadows come out of the door.

"Well it's been a really nice time here, seeing you again."

"Yeah, it's been fun."

Those of us behind the target jump up, and I slip a hood over her head. Slayer ties her wrists together with a rope and then we both grab her as she starts to faint from the smell of the hood.

"Mission complete. Let's get her to base and call Ari and his group so that we can finish the mission together." We all follow Omega as he unfurls his wings.

Two down, one more to go.

* * *

**This chapter went in ways I hadn't originally planned, but it still went the way I wanted. It was a lot of fun to write, so I hope you enjoyed it. The next chapter won't be as long as the last two have been, but that's because I'm making it the easiest capture. Usually, when you try to make certain things more secure, others become less secure, so that's what happens in the next chapter. Then, after that, I'm finally going back to the good old Flocks, though it's fun getting to write in Generation-R's pov. **

**Anyways, as always, check out the stories of my reviewers as well as my One-Shots and my favorites. Everything I read is always good and the stories I've written have gotten good feed-back.**

**Please Review and tell your friends about my story. I love getting reviews, they make me want to write more. :)**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	13. Our Mission to Change The World Part III

**Chapter Thirteen: Our Mission to Change the World Part III**

**Omega II's POV**

My half of my team is just getting off the plane behind me and I see my second, Ari, waiting at the bottom of the stairs off of the jet. I had contacted him and told him to meet me here, in Arizona. We're down to our third and final target. It's time to get busy.

"Did you scout the house?" I snap the question at Ari.

"Yes sir. She has her security up to a new all time high for the CSM. Motion sensors, guards sleeping in the house as well as keeping guard, high-tech locks and alarms; she's not taking any chances anymore."

"Just as I expected. Any word on what's guarding her and her daughter themselves."

"The target has guards with her at all times, except in the bathroom where they wait outside the door and windows. She has a bullet-proof vest and bugs on her. We also believe she is holding a weapon.

"Her daughter, on the other hand, has almost no security except a guard to school. She may have a bullet-proof vest, but no weapons whatsoever and she's at school as we speak."

"We go after the daughter then. She'll be the bait. We have no time to lose. We need to get back to Australia by tomorrow evening. The Flocks are done the day after that."

I let my team sit down to eat and rest for a couple of hours, doing the same myself, and then get them up to prepare for our third and final target. We have only mere hours to capture the target, so we need to act fast and to the point.

I drive us out to the girl's school and we sit there waiting for it to end. At the same time, I have Fang still at the base preparing the room where we're going to send the target pictures of her daughter so that she'll come to us and then that will make it easy.

I hear the bell ring at the end of the school day and students suddenly start coming out of the school as if it's on fire and they have to get out. Looking around, I see the girl as she's coming out. She's with some friends, but it looks as if she's saying good-bye for the day, so we should be able to grab her.

My guess is correct because moments later, she waves to her friends and starts to walk towards her house. I start up my jeep and I hear Wendy starting up the other. We start to follow her as she walks down the street and away from her school. She doesn't seem to notice two jeeps following her, but we don't know what's going through her mind.

After she walks two blocks, we decide it's time to grab her. I speed up my jeep and stop it at the corner of the sidewalk she's on. Wendy stops right behind me. When she gets close to us, we open the doors and jump out.

She jumps slightly in surprise at seeing the two Flocks in front of her and then she sees the rest of us and looks confused. I smirk slightly and then motion the entire group forward. Ari quickly puts a hood over her head and then Iggy ties up her wrists while Slayer grabs her before she falls.

We put her into the back of my jeep and we drive out of there. It took all of fifteen seconds.

Driving fast, but not fast enough to get in trouble, we get back to the base where Fang is waiting. He takes the girl and moves her into the room he's been preparing. I follow with everyone else behind me.

When we walk into the room we find a rug has been placed with chains for her arms and legs so that she can't escape. There's duct tape for her mouth. We have some knives to threaten her with and to cut her with so that the target knows we mean business.

I grab a knife and swiftly cut her randomly on her arms and legs, but not deep enough to bring more than a trickle of blood. I also cut her cheek lightly. Then, the others untie her and chain her to the ground before taking off the hood, making it even easier for her to wake up.

We leave the room, unable to take a picture until she wakes up. Hopefully using only three drops of the liquid to create the fumes will mean she'll be up within half an hour, but humans are so fragile that we aren't sure.

We sit in the lounge and grab some food to refill our stomachs with. After we eat, I send Hades into the room to let us know when she wakes up. I had thought about sending Iggy, but that would only confuse her so I decided on sending someone she doesn't know.

The rest either lay down on the couches to watch TV, get books to read, or go to their rooms to sleep. I grab my laptop and open an instant message chat with the Director to inform her of the progress of our three part mission.

_How is it coming along Omega?_

_Very well, Director. Two down and the third well on the way._

_Very good, but did anyone in the first two see you?_

_In the first two, they only saw the people who look like the Flocks and they think they're the Flocks. At the moment we have target three's daughter as bait to draw her directly towards us. Her security was built up greatly enough that this will be safer and easier._

_Okay, but make sure the girl doesn't hear names of the ones outside of the Flocks and doesn't get location names or anything of the sort. _

_No ma'am, the group knows the dangers of that happening._

_Very good. I hope to see you all here, with the targets, by tomorrow evening._

_You will, ma'am, you will._

We both close the conversation and I look up to see Ari has his laptop out as well and decide to talk with him for a little as we have time to spare.

_**Ari.**_

_**Yes, sir?**_

_**How many of you did Target One see?**_

_**He only saw Angel, Ozy, Frannie, Gazzy, Nudge, and Matthew. The rest of us were the capture crew. He never saw us.**_

_**Very good. The Director wants us back by tomorrow evening still, so we have to make this last capture fast. It will probably be a fight, knowing that the target's other daughter is Maximum Ride.**_

_**Yes sir. We'll need to have weapons ready after we send her the picture of her daughter. She's protective and will want to come almost immediately so we'll see her very soon after it's sent.**_

_**Good. Be ready for anything.**_

_**Yes sir!**_

I close that conversation and then hear Hades coming down the hallway. Closing my laptop, I get up just as he rushes into the room.

"She's awake sir! Thrashing around too. I think she might hurt herself if we aren't fast."

"Let's go. We need to get that picture to make her mother come."

I lead the way back to the room with the girl, but I only motion Hades, Slayer, and Wolf into the room with me. She knows everyone else, so we need to keep it nice and simple.

When we enter the room, we find a thrashing girl that only pauses long enough to look at us before tugging at her chains again. I sigh, mutter stupid girl under my breath, and go over to the camera. I focus it and take a fast picture before she even realizes that her looking alive is what we want.

I take the camera, order the others to come with me, and go back to the lounge to get my laptop. I plug the camera into it and then watch as the picture comes up on the screen. I print it out, pick up a pen, and write a message on the back.

_Come here alone and before midnight or your daughter will die at midnight._

I add the address of a building that we own and never use before putting it into an envelope. Motioning to the group, I tell them the plan.

"Hades, Slayer, and Wolf, you three will be in charge of getting her into a jeep and moving her to the house. Ari, you'll be in charge of getting weapons ready with Fang, Wendy, Iggy, Icarus, Nudge, and Peter to help. The rest of you will come with me as I put this envelope in a place where the target will find it before her guards do."

We all go our own ways. I lead my group to the vet office she works at. I give the envelope to Angel, the smallest, so that she can slip into the back to put it there while I distract the target.

"Why, hello, do you need something?"

"Yes, my dog hasn't been eating the food I'm giving him. The last time this happened, back before my family moved, all he needed was a new type of dog food. Do you have anything I could try so that he'll eat?"

"Yes, of course. Give me a moment."

The target turns away from the front of the room, but not to the back either, which gives Angel the few moments she needs to place the envelope into her purse before slipping out the slightly open door again. The target turns back without noticing a thing.

"I'm sorry; I gave the last bag to the last person. I'll have to order more, though you can go to this address and get this dog food." She hands me a card. "I hope your dog eats. Have a nice day."

Wow, she works well, even in stress and under the worry of her being captured too. I go outside and all of us walk to the safe house where we find the girl still asleep and chained to the floor again. I order my group and Ari's group to keep watch for the target.

I pick up some knives and a gun with some spare rounds. Then I take the bag of weapons around to the rest who grab their preferred weapons. I sit in front of the girl with a knife in my hand while I wait for her mother, the target.

Half an hour later, the girl wakes up, but this time she doesn't fight. She just lays there with her eyes open. She's realized that fighting is pointless and now she'll have to wait.

A report comes in; the target is here. I get up and unchain the girl, but I keep a hold of her now tied hands and put my knife to her throat as the others come into the room to wait. She stares at them, but she can't say a word with the duct tape on her mouth.

The door opens and her mother walks into the room. She sees her daughter with a knife at her neck before she realizes who's in the room. She gasps, but then realizes that the Flocks can't really be the Flocks, especially because neither Max is here (We left the older Max clone in Australia for some extra training). She glares at me and pulls out a couple of knives.

Looking closely, I see guns, but she went for the knives first. I roll my eyes and whistle sharply and fast. The team attacks. She dodges many of the knives, but gets a couple of cuts. I realize her main goal and let her daughter go, pushing her towards the door. The girl turns to her mother but her mother yells at her to run. The girl runs out of the room just before my team grabs the knives and guns from the target.

She goes down to her knees in surrender now that her daughter is safe. Our mission is complete.

Three down and time to go home.

* * *

**This is the end of my already written chapters. I'm going to be writing as much as I can tomorrow, so you few actually reading this might get lucky and get like 2 or 3 chapters in a few days. The reason, I'm going away for all of July to Alberta Canada and won't be able to post much. I'm trying to get this done before I leave and I leave on the first so it has to be done by the last day of June. Luckily for me (but something you might not like), the story is almost done and I only have maybe 3 chapters or so to write.**

**Check out all of my favorites and the stories of my reviewers. Oh, and PLEASE REVIEW.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	14. The Bad End of The Bargain

**Chapter Fourteen: The Bad End of The Bargain**

**Nudge's POV**

It's finally the last day of this stupid "training" that Itex has been putting us through for a week. I've been bored the whole time. I finished the _first _day for God's sake! It's pathetic that these "smart" scientists didn't see this coming; that _Jeb_ didn't see this coming. Jeb knows us better than anyone else in this stupid place.

Gazzy and Iggy have been making bombs the whole time with Icarus and Matthew helping them. They have over half a million I think; Gazzy and Iggy have been talking about the amazing number. They're all done with the computer stuff and have been since the second day. They've just been building away over there in their little corner.

The rest are almost done, but not quite. They'll be done before Itex comes in to pick us up tonight.

The problem would be me. I've been done since day one, been hacking ever since, and I've hacked everything I could from Itex and printed it out. I even made a secret pocket in my backpack to put the printed papers in; you can't even tell they're there. I have so much information it isn't even funny. Now I'm bored, though, and I don't know what to do.

Some people would say to help the boys, but I'm not good at that sort of electronics. It doesn't make sense to me. I leave it to Gazzy and Iggy. Others would say to try and hack some more, but I've literally hacked everything. My fingers fly across a keyboard and I sometimes don't even know that it's happening, it's that natural. Some would tell me to help the others, but when I offered, they all told me to go do something else and that they didn't want help.

I sigh quietly and open up something on the screen. I start looking for something to do and after a while, I come across a link to the cameras around the Itex building. Quickly breaking though the protection, I start to look around Itex to see what there is to see.

Within a few minutes, I come to our room, the one I had been looking for. Without turning at all, I can see the boys all whispering and working on their bombs and – they have cameras in our room! Max isn't going to like this.

I check the angle of the camera on my screen and then turn around, straight at the camera. I see it in seconds and wonder how we could have missed it. It's like a webcam and it right on top of the pile of junk Gazzy and Iggy are using for their bombs.

Turning back to my screen, I hack back more and find all the footage it's taken. I think for a minute and then open another camera along with ours and switch it to the one in the security room. I don't see anyone in there or any screens on…

I look at the footage from the camera in our room and get an evil idea. I start to use a program on the computer to edit the footage. I put Gazzy, Iggy, Icarus, and Matt at their computers the whole week. I make it so that I never got up to get printed hacked stuff from the printer or put it into the secret pockets of my bag, which I make so it seems like I never made it.

Looking into the room we sleep in, I hide the entire bomb making scene every night by making the boys all sit by us talking, like they had been earlier. Mostly, I take clips of that most of us had done before, and put them over and over so that it looks like we have always been doing them instead of stuff we should have been doing.

Within an hour, the clips are all edited and we look like perfect little angels. It's well done and undetectable too. I smile proudly at my work for a few moments. I like that I can use computers better than the rest, but sometimes it means I have to do a lot of work in a short time.

Now that I've changed the footage, it's time to look around at live feeds. I close down all but one camera and start flipping through the different pictures. I stop here and there to look at experiments.

One room has computers just like ours and experiments are sitting at them and working with packets next to them that look identical to ours. Another room has some kids fighting Erasers for training. A third has kids running through an obstacle course like the one Angel had described to me one night just after we'd rescued her from the School just after our life on the run had begun.

The fourth room… well, it has Generation R sitting around in it, some using laptops and others watching TV. They are all just relaxing and they also had some food in there. It's as if they were being rewarded for something…

I move on and find the room with the Director, Jeb, and Anne. I grab the headphones that Iggy had been given, plug them in, and turn them on. I need to hear what they're saying. Jeb is talking when I turn the sound on.

"-a success. They returned half an hour ago and are relaxing right now. The guests are down on floor two, room fifteen. They're sleeping right now, but they should be waking up within the hour."

"Very good," The Director says. "This success will change everything. I'm glad it was done quickly; we don't have to lie to get ourselves more time now."

"Yes," Anne takes over. "Now all we just have to let the _other_ guests finish and get them out of here and then we can take care of our new guests."

"Until then, they can stay in their room and just chat."

I turn the sound off; I've heard enough. These people have new "guests" here other than us and they're going to hurt them once we leave on our "mission." I think it's time to find out who these people are…

I type in which camera I want to see: floor two, room fifteen. The camera switches and I suddenly get a room with three people in it. I close my eyes. I can't look at the picture anymore.

The problem: I know these people, we all know them. Well… maybe not Erika, but the rest of us know them. They're all scientists and they all work for CSM. Dr. John Abate, Dr. Brigid Dwyer, and the one that will piss Max off the most, Dr. Martinez.

I sit here with my eyes closed and think about what I should do. I _should_ tell Max, but who knows what she'll be like when she finds out that her mother is here in Australia as a prisoner. I also know that if I don't tell her and Max finds out that I knew, she'd kill me. I also really like these scientists and don't want them getting hurt at all.

I think for a while and then make my decision: I'd rather have a pissed Max that gets everyone out of here safely than a Max that's working _with_ Itex any day. I turn to look at the rest of the room.

"Max?" Both heads snap to me and everyone else follows a bit slower. "You might want to come look at this…" My Max comes over to look at my screen with the older Max not far behind her. Everyone else follows.

I look at the screen and when Max sees, I could hear her gasp and then the quiet growl she lets out. You can almost feel the heat coming off of her, she's that angry. Everyone else looks at the screen and gasps.

I can understand why; the three are chained to the wall by their arms and legs. Their wrists and ankles all have blood running out from under the chains. They're all unconscious, but I already knew that because of what I had heard in the earlier conversation.

Looking up at Max, I can tell that we'll be going after these idiots, and they're going to get the bad end of the bargain.

* * *

**Short, I know. The good thing is, I'm writing more. I'll have chapter 15 up pretty fast, so be expecting updates today. I'm just writing to get the story done and out there. I'm leaving on Wednesday and I don't want to have to leave this story unfinished.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	15. Trouble on Both Side of The Battle

**Chapter Fifteen: Trouble on Both Sides of The War**

**Max's POV**

They have my mom! These freaking IDIOTS have my MOM!!! They are _so _dead.

I'm full of anger, and I'm ready to kick some white coat butt. These idiots took it too far by taking my mom. They made me furious, and when I'm this mad, I don't lose.

I tap Gazzy, who's right next to me, on the shoulder and he looks up at me. I just raise an eyebrow and his eyes grow wide in amazement.

None of the others know this, but I've been talking to Gazzy, and Iggy through Gazzy, about a plan to destroy this branch of Itex. My raising my raised eyebrow told him that I'm wondering if he's ready to use it.

I turn my head slightly to the right since he hasn't answered yet and he nods once very fast while his hands go to his pockets. I know that he's fingering the bombs he and the other three boys have been making this past week.

I smile slightly and then turn back to the computer to look at my mom as well as the other two scientists. I can tell the chains are hurting them because of the blood, but they're all unconscious, so they don't feel any pain for now. For how long they'll be unconscious I don't know, but I hope it lasts until we can get them out of there.

Of course, with my luck, just after I think that, they start to stir. They slowly sit up and then look at their wrists and ankles as they realize that they have chains on them. They all look around the room and then seem to notice each other for the first time. I watch as my mom starts to talk, but we hear nothing.

"Nudge, got any sound on this thing?"

She doesn't answer, just unplugs some headphones from the computer and turns it up a bit.

"-are you here?"

"I don't know exactly," Dr. Abate says. "A few of the younger ones from both Flocks had found me on my day off and then some of the older ones came to pick them up. I don't remember anything after that except a black cloth bag being put over my head and a sweet smell."

"I was spending a night with Fang," Brigid says and I get confused at that statement. "I was walking him out and a black cloth bag and a sweet smell are all I can remember."

"Well I actually saw my kidnappers," My mom says. "I also don't think that those who got you two were the real Flock members. I saw members from both Flocks as well as a few others, but I never saw Max."

That's it; it was Generation R that took these three from their homes in America and brought them here to Australia. The Director, Jeb, and Anne only put us at the computers so we wouldn't ruin their "plan" of stealing the scientists from the CSM. That's why they don't care what we do as long as they know we're trapped inside the building and can't stop them… or so they think.

"Gazzy, Iggy." They both turn to me and know what I mean. Everyone else is confused, but I just ignore them. "Get the stuff ready, it's time." They both look a little shocked, but mostly excited.

"Max," I turn to Erika, who's standing next to Fang and Max. "What are they doing?" She points to Iggy and Gazzy, who are now telling Matt and Icarus to get their bombs together.

"The plan."

"Max, what plan?" Max sounds worried. "We never had a plan."

"The plan I made up with Gazzy and went from him to Iggy." The hairs on my neck stand up straight and it's enough to tell me to look at Fang. Fang's eyes tell me that he's confused, worried about me, and really wants to know what's going on here.

"Guys, don't worry about it. The boys are just going to set up bunch of bombs around the building and then blow it up." Fang's eyes calm down as he realizes that this is a basic plan, and Max calms down too. Only Erika is still confused.

"Blow up the building? First, we're in the building, and second, we're locked in a room with no way to set up the bombs anyway." I shake my head and roll my eyes.

"Erika, we've done this more than once. We're going to sneak out of the room, place the bombs, go and get the three scientists out of their cell, get out of the building, and blow it up. We might have to fight a few Erasers or white coats, possibly both, but we'll get out just fine."

"How are you so sure? I mean, this is Itex we're talking about! They kill without worry." I sigh, motion to Angel to answer, and then go over to where the boys are, not really listening to Angel's answer.

"How many bombs do you four have?"

"Thousands." I don't like how proudly they all said this…

"Okay, but we don't need _thousands_ to take out this building. Maybe... twenty-five…" The boys all look sad. "Okay, fifty, but that's all." They all smiled and got out a bunch of bombs.

"Ig, I'm going to need you to pick the lock on the door so we can get out." He smiles in a way that shows he likes the idea and that he's thinking evilly. He likes picking locks, though I don't get why. Always makes him smile like that when I give him permission to…

I look over at Erika and listen to the end of Angel's answer. "-and so, because we've escaped so many times, we're sure of ourselves when it comes to getting out _and_ destroying the buildings."

"Was that good enough for you Erika?" I join the conversation again once I see Angel's done.

"Yeah. I get it now."

"Then let's go. Boys, come on, time to get moving." Everyone gets up, grabs their bag, and heads over to the door.

I watch as Iggy takes out his lock pick kit and picks out a tool. He sticks it into the lock and starts to move it around. Within three minutes, breaking his record again, the door is open and we're in the hallway. I turn to face the boys and see that they're all anxious to get out of here and place their many bombs.

"Boys," they all face me in moments, "you all go place your bombs and then meet us at the cell down on floor…-" I realize that I have no idea where the cell is, but Nudge comes to the rescue.

"Two, room fifteen." The boys nod.

"Go." I watch as they all race down the hallway. Then I turn to Nudge.

"That was very helpful." She shrugs.

"I had been listening and heard it from Jeb." I just nod at this.

**Gazzy's POV**

The four of us tear down the hallway, rushing towards the center of the building. We finally get to where we think is the center and Iggy takes charge.

"Matt, go to the East and place fifty bombs on the area that looks like this." He shapes his hands so that they make up two sides of a triangle. Matt nods and I tap Iggy's hand so he knows that Matt understands.

"Icarus, do the same thing on the South side." He shapes his hands again and this time I take Icarus's hands over to Iggy's so that he knows the shape. He nods and I tap Iggy's hand again.

"Gazzy, the west side." I just tap his hand. "I'll cover the north side. Do we all know what to do?"

"Yeah."

"Then let's go place some bombs!"

I race to where my inner compass thing tells me is West and start going into every empty room I find, placing a bomb or two in the room depending on the size. If a room has people in it, I place the bomb on the wall by the room. Sometimes I just place bombs on the walls. The only thing I do is make sure the bombs are turned on and set on remote before I carefully place them.

When I'm done with my fifty, I race back to the center where we'd been before and find Matthew here already, but still looking as if he'd barely gotten here. He looks up when I get there, smiles, and gives me a thumbs up. Just as he puts his hand down, I hear two sets of footsteps. I turn towards one and then turn towards the other; they're coming from the South and North. I see Iggy and Icarus and breathe a sigh of relief.

"Success?" Iggy asks all of us.

"Yup." "Yeah." "Ready for me."

Iggy smiles evilly. Then he motions for me to walk over to him. He leans down to where my face is and I turn my ear towards his mouth.

"Is there a room right by here?" He whispers. I look around and spot a door to my right.

"Yeah." I speak so quietly it's as if I didn't even say anything, but I know he hears me.

"Okay, lead us to it please."

I just nod and head towards the door. Iggy follows, which means Matt follows, and this catches Icarus's attention so he follows. We open the door to find an empty classroom; literally a classroom. It has desks, chairs, a whiteboard, computers in the corner –even if they are high-tech- on a table, and a bunch of textbooks. The only thing missing is the people.

While Matt and I are staring at the room because we can see it, Iggy and Icarus are making tapping noises on the floor so that they can make a small map in their heads of where the walls are, the desks are, the chairs are, and all the other big things that could get in their ways are.

Then, once all of us have our bearings, we take out three bombs each, and go to a wall and just place them along the wall. We don't even have to talk to know that this is what we're doing, we just do it.

After we're done, we rush to the stairs, and using the helpful signs on the walls, go down to the second floor. Once we get there, we look at the room numbers by the door and go to the left, the direction the numbers seem to be getting larger leads to.

We get close to fifteen and find that we're behind Generation R and the rest of our group is in front of them. The three scientists are out, but they've been trapped again by Generation R, who has them trapped between them and a wall along with the two Flocks and Erika.

Only the Flock has seen us, but barely. Generation R hasn't heard us yet, so we're safe on that end. We're about to rush in when I hear a voice in my head — Angel's voice.

_**Stop! Both Maxes say to stop, turn around, and get out of here. They don't want you all getting caught too. My Max wants you four in the building hiding, and ready to take orders to get the rest of us to safety. Please, do it.**_

I sigh and pull Iggy back around the corner while Matt brings Icarus. I lead the way and we quietly run through the hallway and back up the stairs to the third floor where we find a room to hide in. We all sit down and just stay here, worrying about our families and not knowing what we can do to help them but knowing that we have to do _something_.

* * *

**Okay, not done yet, but this is as much as I'm getting done tonight, so expect more tomorrow. I was hoping to make it longer, but I couldn't. This is as much as you're all getting, sorry. As you can all see, it's winding down, though not as fast as I had planned. I'll probably have 2 or 3 more chapters, and the epilogue may or may not be in there. I'm not sure yet. Just expect A LOT of writing from me tomorrow. Oh, it's going to start off where Max's left off but in Angel's POV. I hope you enjoyed.**

**Please review.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	16. Revenge Is Sweet

**Chapter Sixteen: Revenge Is Sweet**

**Angel's POV (Just after Gazzy and the boys ran off last chapter)**

I watch as my brother and the others run off down the hallway to set up their bombs. Then I turn towards Max after they turn the corner. She motions for us to all follow her and she goes the opposite way that the boys had gone. While we walk, I decide to listen in on thoughts.

_My mother! They took my mother! These people are complete IDIOTS._ I quickly get out of Max's head.

_Why are we doing this? We shouldn't be splitting up, even if it does get the bombs placed sooner. _I guess Ozy doesn't like the plan…

**Max has to calm down… Her being this angry isn't a good thing. She isn't thinking straight because of it. We need her thinking straight for this mission.** Fang is worried…

_I don't like the look of this… We have an angry Max leading us, Matt isn't here nor the other three and they're the ones good with bombs, and three of the scientists from the CSM are captured._ The other Max is worried too. I don't like this…

**This is boring, even if there is a chance of us getting captured. I need to talk to be having fun. I hate these missions; they're too quiet and boring!** Too much Nudge for me.

I think I'm done poking in people's heads. Good thing we're here. We're standing in front of a door that looks normal but has the number 15 on it, and we know we're on the second floor because of the signs in the stairs that I had barely noticed while reading minds.

We look at the door and realize that it's locked and we had just sent the lock picker to place bombs. Max looks at the lock for a minute and then looks around, but there's nothing to see but other doors that are also locked. Fang looks at the lock closely and then reaches into his pocket and pulls out a single lock pick.

We all stare at him as he quickly picks the lock, faster than Iggy does. He then turns and seems to notice us looking at him. He shrugs. "Iggy taught me and I practiced. I always keep one pick with me." That surprises Max, Nudge, and me because none of us had ever known about this and I don't think Gazzy knows either.

Max opens the door and goes into the room, the rest of us following. I see the three scientists looking at us, scared. Then Dr. Martinez sees Max and her thoughts go from scared to relieved and a little nervous. The others are scared out of their mind still because they hadn't seen _all_ of Generation R, just bits and pieces of it.

"What's going on?" Dr. Martinez is the first to speak.

" Mom," Max replies, "we're here to get you three to safety."

Dr. Martinez smiles, but the other two back away from us and closer to the wall. They don't trust us one bit. I concentrate on their thoughts more closely.

_**They're taking us out of here and to a torture room. They've come back for us. They can't be the Flocks! I mean, there's someone else in the group, just like Valencia said there had been when she'd been captured.**_

_**Fang… That can't be Fang…I just saw him in Maryland two days ago! He can't be here, he wouldn't be here. I'm so confused.**_

Both of the other scientists are confused by the sight of us, but Dr. Martinez doesn't seem to mind. I concentrate on her mind now.

_Max is with this group. This time, it's really the Flock. Last time there was no Max, just the others. Ari was there, Ari, Jeb's son. He wasn't a huge, odd-looking Eraser; he was a young seven-year-old. He looked human but with wings like the rest of these kids here. There were also a few others I've never seen, but only a few. With this group, there's only one girl I don't know, but she hadn't been part of that other group. This is real._

Whoa, Dr. Martinez really does know that it's us. I decide it's time to use my mind to talk to tell the other two that it really is us.

_**John, Brigid, it really is us. This is Angel. I know why you're confused; Generation R kidnapped you. Generation R is made up of a group of clones that are us as well as a few others that are supposed to be the "perfect" experiments. I think they were sent out to capture you while we were distracted by a trick.**_

Both of the scientists look at me in surprise and calm down enough to let us come over and take off their chains like Max had already done for her mom while I'd been calming the other two down. No one realizes that I'd been the one to calm them down; they just think that they had been surprised by people coming in and had reacted to it.

We pull all three to the door and walk outside… to find Generation R waiting for us. We had walked straight into a trap.

We stopped and stared at them, the scientists behind us so that we're protecting them. Movement at the corner of the hall catches my eye and I turn slightly to see Gazzy and the other boys are back. They freeze when they see Generation R and just stand there.

_**Max, the boys are at the corner of the hall. Generation R doesn't seem to have noticed them yet.**_

_Tell them to go hide and wait for you to contact them again. _I don't like my Max's plan, but then the other Max answers my plea since it was to both of them.

_They have to hide. We need them to be able to get us out of here later on. Tell them to go._

I mentally sigh. These two are _too_ alike sometimes. They don't seem to know it either. Oh well. I look up… and almost yell out. The boys are starting to move again and rush towards us. I yell into their heads.

_**Stop! Both Maxes say to stop, turn around, and get out of here. They don't want you all getting caught too. My Max wants you four in the building hiding, and ready to take orders to get the rest of us to safety. Please, do it.**_

I see them stop suddenly, seem to think for a moment, and then Gazzy pulls Iggy around the corner again and Matt does the same with Icarus. I almost sigh in relief, but I hold it in. The boys are safe, my brother is safe. They got out of here. My brother won't get caught, I just know he won't.

"Well, what do we have here? Some little sneaks that thought they could save their little scientists from us when we've been watching you since you left the room. We've also been watching you all in the room, looking over the tapes for the past few days. We'd expected more than you all just working on the computer the entire time."

Work on the computers the whole time? But the four boys had been building bombs the whole time and Nudge had printed so much stuff what… Oh, Nudge.

_**Nudge, did you do something while on the computer?**_

_**Yeah, tell Max that I edited the footage I found of us so that it looks like we've been perfect the whole time.**_

_**Go Nudge! **_I turn my mind to Max. _**Nudge edited the footage of the room so that it looks like we've been perfect the whole time.**_

_Ah, that explains it. Well, thanks for telling me. I'll play it from here._

"Too bad we disappointed you, but we love to do that and you should all know it. If you all thought we're always rebellious, you're all idiots because we _know_ how to follow the rules, but we usually prefer not to."

"Well it doesn't matter because you're all going to be imprisoned."

Suddenly Generation R rushes in and black cloth bags are put over our heads. I'm last before the scientists because I was at the back. I smell a sweet smell, but I try to hold my breath. It doesn't work for more than a few seconds. I feel myself going unconscious. I fall to my knees and then to my side as the world goes black.

I wake up in a room, chained to the wall as the scientists had been earlier. Looking around, I'm alone. I guess they don't trust us together. I have to talk to someone though, so I let my mind wander around and feel none of the Flock members awake on this floor. I go up a floor and find my brother.

_**Gazzy? Gazzy, please answer, I'm scared.**_

_**Angel?! Angel, what's wrong? **_

_**Gazzy, we got captured. I'm alone in a room, chained to the wall like the scientists were earlier. I'm bleeding like they had been, and I'm scared. No one else is awake yet!**_

_**Angel, calm down. It'll be okay. They'll wake up, give you instructions to give to us, and then we'll come save you. Just be strong. I know you'll be strong and make it through this. You made it back when this all started and you'll make it now.**_

_**You're right. I think it was just the sight of Generation R and that sweet smelling stuff that threw me off, I think…**_

_**Yeah, now rest and wait for Max to get up. Okay?**_

_**Okay Gazzy. I will.**_

I listen to my brother and close my eyes. Within minutes, I'm asleep again. Next time I wake up and search with my mind, everyone else is waking up.

_**Max, what should Gazzy and the boys do?**_

_Tell them to go down to the computer room, use the stuff down there to make supplies, and then come up and rescue us _**without**_ giving themselves away with explosives._

I smile and get ready to pass the message on.

**Iggy's POV**

We've been sitting here silently for hours. I even fall asleep for a bit in there and I think everyone else does too. I'm just about to stand up and walk around when I hear a voice in my head.

_**Guys, Max says to go back to the computer room and to use the stuff down there to make supplies. You have to use that to rescue us **_without _**giving yourselves away with explosives. **_

Man! Max ruins everything! No bombs? Dang, that makes this much more boring. Ah well, at least we get to build again.

_**Oh, just so you know, they have a camera in the room as well as in all the halls. You'll have to be very fast and careful.**_

Way to make this even more challenging for two blind kids and two not blind kids. We all stand up and I feel Gazzy grab my hand lightly to lead me to the door. I hear Matt doing the same for Icarus.

We go out into the hall and Gazzy leads me to the stairs again and using the sound of his footsteps, I step on the steps without missing one. When we get back to the computer room, I go over to the piles of stuff, feel for what I know we need, and grab it from the pile.

The others probably make no sense of this, but I quickly put the stuff together into a sort of mini-laser that should, hopefully, open any doors we find. I also make some bombs that aren't bombs but little metal balls that have sleeping gas in them and are silent. I do all of this in under twenty minutes, quickly give everyone some of the sleeping gas bombs, and explain how to use them. I then give Gazzy the laser and show him how to use it by showing him what buttons to press to turn it on and what knob to turn to make it stronger.

Within half an hour, we're ready to go and Gazzy leads us back to the stairs and down to the second floor. Once we get there, I hear footsteps. I grab Gazzy and I hear Icarus grab Matt. We pull them behind the door of the stairs against the wall and the door opens moments later. Someone walks past and we slip out the door before we're seen and before it closes.

We go back to the corner where we had just been past before Gazzy had seen Generation R. I listen and hear breathing in the hall that belongs to Generation R; don't ask how I know, I just do. I tap Gazzy's hand twice and I hear him throw some of the sleeping gas bombs. Within moments, I hear the guards drop to the ground and I even hear one of them snoring.

We sneak around the corner and Gazzy whispers that it's all clear so we go to the first door. I hear the laser being turned on and moments later the door opens. Matthew walks into the room and then comes back, and this time Gazzy goes in. When he comes out, he has both Maxes, Fang, and both sets of twins with him. I can tell by the sound of their footsteps. The next room has Erika and Nudge. Then we find the scientists. Finally we find Angel in her own room all alone. I hear Gazzy hugging her and telling her that it's alright.

We go out and just before we leave the room where Angel had been held, I hear footsteps. It doesn't sound like Generation R, though. In fact, I don't recognize the sounds at all, but Icarus does because he gasps almost silently.

The footsteps stop outside the door and the other Flock gasps as they look at them. "You all again!" Max yells, though it isn't my leader.

"Yes, we're back, and you're all in huge trouble. Now, either come with us quietly or we'll make you come with us." I snicker quietly at the response I know this is going to get.

"Come with you quietly?! No way! Get out of our way or we'll make you Dr. Frezer!" I hear Gazzy start to laugh at this as well; it's just too funny.

I guess the scientists made the wrong move because suddenly everyone is running towards them so Icarus and I follow. Suddenly I hear everyone kicking and punching the scientists. It sounds like they're taking a hard beating. Then I hear the other Flock saying while they punch, "Stupid Dr. Frezer, Dr. Garcia, Dr. Lange, Dr. Cain, Dr. Zumbado, and Dr. Peck!" Then they start to punch harder at the scientists.

After another minute of this I call out quietly but loud enough for a bird-kid to hear, "Everyone out of the way." They all move so that Icarus and I have clear shots at the scientists and we throw the sleeping gas bombs. Within moments, they're all out cold and we're walking by, kicking them as we go. The three CSM scientists follow, amazed at what we did and gasping as they see it.

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**I've been working on this for a while today, so I really hope you enjoy it and are looking forward to more because I'm going straight from this chapter into chapter 17. I hope to have it done to night but I doubt it unless it's short and I'm not trying for short, just fast. Only 17 and 18 are left and 18 will be the epilogue so it's almost done.**

**Well, please Review.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	17. Home At Last

**Chapter Seventeen: Home At Last**

**Peter's POV**

I happily kick the scientists that tortured us with tests on my way out of the building and see that everyone else is doing the same except for the scientists we saved because they're on our side.

This time when we go up the stairs, we go all the way up to the roof. When we get there, we find a helicopter that can seat four. The CSM scientists go and get into it, Dr. Martinez in the pilot's seat. They're going to follow us to an airport using the helicopter.

We all take off and just before we're five hundred yards away, Generation R comes up in front of us. We all glare at them and get ready for a huge fight. They get ready to, but before we can start, Angel AND Ozy talk into our heads.

_**Don't fight. Let the boys throw bombs at them to distract them until we can get the CSM members out of the way. After that we can fight… if there's anything left to fight.**_

Everyone nods and then the four boys take out their bombs. I worry for a moment because we're still in range of the Itex building but then I see them all take out another watch and put it on the wrist that doesn't have a watch on it yet. Then they set their bombs to those watches and get ready to throw.

We all get out of the way and motion for the helicopter to follow us. The boys throw their bombs; their aim and timing are true. Moments before the bombs hit the clones, they hit their watches and they explode on the clones, hitting them directly. That's our chance and we lead the helicopter around in a wide arc until it's well out of range of the fight.

When we finally turn around, we see only three of Generation R are still flying and they're all obviously hurt. We hurry over to them after making sure the CSM people would stay where they are. We get there and are just out of range when the final group of bombs blow up on the three, knocking them out of the sky.

The boys turn towards us, all smiling happily, and seem to be ready to go finally. We all turn and head towards the helicopter. When we get next to it, Iggy asks one question: "Are we far enough away?"

Both Maxes sigh and look to see that we're far enough away to let the boys have their fun. "Yes."

They all punch the air and then get ready to hit their watches. Iggy counts down. "Three… Two… One… And GO!" They all hit their watches at the same moment and the next thing I hear is a giant "_**BOOM!!!**_"

I watch as a giant fireball explodes from the building that used to be known as the head branch of Australia's Itexicon but it now a huge fire. It's an amazing site, but I also suspect that these boys took that fifty bombs only thing and did something like fifty bombs each, but that's not my problem.

"Did you boys use more than fifty bombs _all together_ like I said?" The younger Max is giving the boys a look that shows she's not pleased. Both Maxes have that look.

Gazzy looks at Max innocently. "Max, you never _said_ fifty bombs in total, just fifty bombs."

"How many did you use?"

"Uh… two hundred I think. Yeah, two hundred. Fifty each."

"You boys overdid it there, but there's nothing we can do now, I guess."

Max moves away, and I hear Iggy mutter to Gazzy, "You do know we used more like two hundred and _ten_ bombs, right?"

"Yeah," Gazzy mutters back, "but she'd have been furious if we went over fifty each and you know it as well as I do."

I roll my eyes and fly over towards the older members of the Flocks. I see Max telling Max about what Gazzy had said.

"Yeah, they used fifty _each_. Trying to take my words and use it to their advantage. Next time, I'm saying in total as well as a number."

I laugh inside and look at Fang to see he's doing the same thing. I catch his eye and we lock eyes for a moment; understanding passes through both of us before we both look away. We both hide what we're feeling and thinking and only those who know us the best can tell. It's hard to realize that I'm not the only person in the world who does this but that my friend and a few of my own family do too. Fang, Wendy, Frannie, and I all have a hard time, so we hide our emotions.

Looking around I see Angel and Gazzy and both flapping their wings in sync and their wings are touching as they do it; a bird kid hug in the air so that we don't get our wings tangled but can still touch. Nudge is talking to Iggy and he's trying not to whack her on the head with his wing I think. Ozy is talking to Icarus quietly. Wendy and Frannie are looking around like Fang and I are. Both Maxes are at the helicopter, talking to the CSM scientists.

I just fly in place until they come back and get everyone to listen.

"There's an airport about five miles away – a private airport of Itex. We're going to take a jet from them. Force them to take us if we have to." I see Iggy grin evilly at that, but I guess Max saw it too. "No bombs for this." His smile disappears, but most of us smirk at the way his face changed so suddenly.

We all follow the helicopter since they know where we're going, and we all land when we see the airport. We all walk to the nearest jet and tell the pilot to take us to Arizona. He doesn't even blink at the order, just gets in and starts up the jet while we sit in the back. The jet takes off and heads to Arizona and I fall asleep fast. I haven't gotten any real sleep in a few days because of this place.

**Ella's POV (A first, I know, but I just had to.)**

I'm sitting in the living room of my house, not leaving the house for anything just in case those people come back. I have guards by all entrances to the house _and_ in the room with me. I've been sitting here for a day with the guards bringing me anything I ask for so that I don't have to become at easier target.

I'm worried about my mom as well as for Max. I had never seen her when I'd been captured and if the rest of the Flock members plus the other Flock are with Itex, she has to be captured like my mom. I hope the two of them are okay, but who knows where they are. Max might be able to free them, but get them back to Arizona if they aren't here? Who knows if she can do that?

I sit up in surprise when the door opens. It only opens at sunset and sunrise when the guards change, but it's the middle of the day right now. I stare at the doorway as… my mom comes in! I rush up and grab her in a huge hug. She may be a huge mess, but she's alive!

After a huge hug, I look behind her to see everyone else, including the missing CSM members. I look at the Flocks suspiciously until I see Max. "Max!" I rush over and hug her tightly and she hugs me back, though not tightly. When I finally step back, I look at the rest of them and go nowhere near them. I guess Angel understood because she speaks into my mind like she does here and there.

_**Ella, there were clones of us that were capturing the CSM members and so they used you as bait. These are the real deal, not clones. Trust me please.**_

I nod and go give her a hug. The guards are already getting medical supplies and food for the huge group of people suddenly in the room. That's when I notice the new person: a girl with brown hair and brown eyes.

I whisper to Nudge, "Who's she?"

She looks up at where I'm looking and whispers back, "That's Erika. We met her in Itex over in Australia. She's like the rest of us so we brought her with us." Erika turns to look at me and smiles so suddenly that I smile back. She walks over to me.

"You must be Ella, Max's half-sister. Nudge and Angel were telling me about you in the jet on the way over here." I smile and nod. "It's nice to meet you."

"You too, Erika."

Just then the guards come in with the medical supplies and call everyone over. I go and help put bandages on everyone and that's when I see how badly they got scraped up.

After that, we all go into the dining room and eat the food placed out for us. All the food is gone before people start crashing in all the rooms and over all the couches. The jet lag is terrible on all of them, and I just didn't get any sleep after my mom was taken. I'm asleep in moments in the living room where my mom and sister are both sleeping. I fall asleep looking at them and glad to have them home.

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**I finally reached a goal I had set out during the middle of the story for myself: to write with every bird-kid in the story. Then I decided I had to do it in Ella's POV, I don't know why but I just knew that I had to. So, I hope you enjoyed it. The final chapter is up next. I have an hour to write still and I'm going to be trying to write it as fast as I can but make it at least as long as this on is. If it isn't up tonight, it will be up within 3 hours of me finally waking up in the morning.**

**Please Review.**

**Edited: 4/4/10**


	18. Epilogue: I Guess This Is GoodBye

**Epilogue  
****Chapter Eighteen: I Guess This Is Good-Bye**

**Erika's POV**

I stare at the screen of Fang's laptop that he stole from Itex and continue to stare at it because I can't believe my eyes. I'm looking at the files of my two closest friends, Victoria and Matthew. They're both _alive_. That has me amazed beyond belief.

It's been three days since we got here to Arizona. Dr. Abate and Dr. Dwyer left two days ago and the guards yesterday. The Flocks are talking about leaving tomorrow. The only problem is me.

They don't know it, but I've heard everyone talking about me from the roof where I sit most of the time. Fang lent me his laptop today and I'm sitting on the roof, looking at the screen. Their talking had led me to search through Itex files on the laptop. They've been talking about what to do with me. They want my help, but they don't know where I should go or who I should go with. I'm the _only_ problem they have.

I don't want to travel with them that badly. I know what they're the two famous Flocks among mutants, but they just aren't what I had expected and I need to do things my way. The only way to do that is to catch up with some of my old friends and fight back with them. This means I have to find them but that could be tricky.

Looking at the screen, I can see all of my old friends and they're all alive and being a problem for Itex. Victoria, Matthew, Brandon, Alexa, Jen, Kyle, and Shawn are all alive and causing rebellions over in Europe. They're all over in Russia at the same Itex branch and they're working together to cause trouble. I just know that if I go over there and help them, they'll be able to get everyone in that branch to follow me and we can make an army to take care of Russia which has over fifty branches. Itex has been growing and the Flocks don't even know it.

Looking on the internet, I see where I can catch a flight to Russia and that it leaves in a few days, plenty of time to get to the east coast if I push myself. I listen carefully to the talk in the house.

"What are we going to do with her?" Max says.

"My family will take her. She's older anyways and belongs more with my group than yours. You're only fifteen." The older Max says.

"That's true I guess. Well, why don't you offer tonight at dinner and see what she says?"

"I will."

A noise behind me makes me spin around and I see Fang climbing over the top of the roof from where his window is on the other side of the house. He sits next to me quietly and just leaves me to my thoughts.

I hand him his laptop and nod to him in thanks. He just nods back while not moving his head at all. We sit here like this for a while before he turns to look at me.

"Erika, I know you've heard what they've been talking about. They don't realize how much the sound travels when you're on the roof."

"Yeah, well then you know that I'm going to have to choose tonight if I want to join that family of theirs."

He cocks his head to the right while looking into my eyes as he tries to read me. "You don't want to join their family?"

"No. I have a family. I've always had a family. I didn't tell you the full story when I told my story because I've never told the full story. Victoria and Erik are the only two I've ever spoken about, but I've got a bunch of others in my family. I need to find them and finally reunite us. We've never all been together at once, only at separate times."

"Then go."

I had faces the forest but now I spin to face him. "What?"

"I said go. You aren't happy here. You miss your old friends and want them back. I've seen what you look at on my laptop. You look at seven people over in Russia. They're your family, Erika. Go over there and get them together."

I just stare at him. Not only is this the most he's ever said to me, but he's telling me to leave and go do what I've been thinking about for three days.

"Erika, go get your family together. Do what we're doing here and in Australia. Get your family and take care of Russia. Heck, get those rebels your family have been making and make an army to take care of Russia. We'll cover the Americas, Australia, and Asia. You cover Russia. Meet us in Africa when you're done, and we'll all work together to take care of Africa and then Europe."

"You mean… You're telling me to join you all without joining you?"

"Basically. Become the leader I see you as and take over your own team of mutants and help us bring down Itex."

I smile, stand up, and put on my backpack that I've kept ready in case I ever wanted to just leave.

"Thanks Fang. Please, tell the others thank you and that you can count on me to take care of Russia. Itex is going down." I shake his hand, open my wings, jump of the roof, and fly towards the east.

I realize my bag is heavier than when I brought it up onto the roof, so I check and realize that I now have an Itex laptop, one of Fang's many. I smile and continue towards the east coast.

**Fang's POV**

I actually smile as I watch Erika fly off towards the east coast and her destination of Russia, the place where her _real_ family is. She pauses and opens her bag, so I know she's found the laptop. She flies off again and I jump off the roof, using my wings to slow my fall.

I walk in through the back door and find Max alone in the living room. I sit down on the couch next to her and put my arm around her. She looks up at me and smiles. I give her a small smile.

I debate telling her about Erika now, but I decide against it. I'll tell them when we sit down for dinner and they're about to go looking for her. Until then, I'm going to spend the afternoon with my Max.

We watch TV and out of the corner of my eye I see the other Max looking at us from the stairs, a sad smile on her face that I understand immediately. She and Ozymandias hadn't had all that much time together before he'd been shot; for her to see us together makes her happy because we get to enjoy what she couldn't, but sad because she could never enjoy it as much as we can.

She goes back upstairs and I turn my attention back to the TV until Dr. Martinez comes in and asks for help with the groceries. Max and I help her bring them in and then help her prepare the dinner. When it's time for dinner, we call everyone down and they're all down in moments.

People don't seem to notice that Erika isn't here for a few minutes until the other Max says, "Hey, anyone seen Erika?" Everyone else shakes their head no, but I nod. "You saw her, Fang?" I nod again and this time everyone sees. "Well, where is she?"

"She's gone. She left to go to Russia."

"What?!?!" Everyone screams at me.

"Her family is there, not here with us. She wanted to be with her family, but she'll take them around Russia to take down Itex and maybe make an army there. She'll meet up with us in Africa."

"You just let her leave?!"

"Well, yeah. She wanted to go and I wasn't going to stop her."

"FANG!"

I just stand here taking her yelling. She has no reason to yell at me, really. I guess my Max knows it too because she goes over and whispers something into Max's ear and she finally calms down. She nods, looks at me, and sits down to eat. I shrug and sit down as well.

Everyone else sits down, my Max next to me, and we all start to eat. After a minute or two, conversations start.

"Max," her head turns to me slightly, "what did you say to her to make her calm down?"

"Just that Erika's been alone for so long that for her, this won't be any different. She's even going to get us another team." She smiles up at me for a moment. "I'm happy you let her go. She needs to find her own family, not be forced into one."

"Yeah, she does. Besides, she knows who and where her real family is. She's been using one of my Itex laptops to search for them and she's been staring at their files for three days."

"So she's been thinking about this the whole time we've been here at my mom's house?"

"Pretty much, yeah."

We both go back to eating, and I just listen around the whole time without speaking again. After a while, we all go into the living room, but I only stay there a few minutes before heading to my room. I climb out the window and go onto the roof.

It's dark out already so the moon is up and I can just barely make out stars in the sky. I just listen to the sounds of animals running around in the forest and watch as cars go by two roads down from us. I just come up here to think and to watch the world.

After a while, I hear someone coming up here and I know who it is. I turn to face Max as she sits down next to me. She looks around for a few minutes before speaking.

"Is this where Erika was when she left?"

"Other side, but yeah."

She nods and then we sit in silence, my arm around her and her head on my shoulder. We stay like this for about an hour and then we head inside and go to bed.

**Older Max's POV**

After breakfast we all head outside to say our last good-byes before we head out again. I look around for Fang and see him over by the edge of the group. I head over there.

"Fang," he looks up, "I'm sorry about last night. I was worried and it came out as anger at you."

"Hey, it's fine. I understand. It's hard to believe someone could be alone like that for so many years."

"Yeah, I know."

We both head off in different directions. I'm going to my family and he's going to his. I smile at my family and then we head towards the rest. When we get there, Max is saying good-bye to her mom and sister. When she's done, she faces us.

"This is good-bye again." I nod. "Maybe this time we'll keep in better contact." I look at Ozy and she looks at Angel. They both smile innocently and nod. I roll my eyes and look back at Max.

"I think we will this time." I look at the younger group and smile.

"Well, see ya Max." She hugs me.

"Bye Max."

That starts a reaction of everyone saying good-bye. After we're done, we all take off, but my family thanks Dr. Martinez and Ella first. Once in the air, we all wave once more and then my family heads to the east while Max and her family go west.

This time, we're going to keep in better contact with them, and have an easier time taking care of Itex.

**The End**

* * *

**It's finally done! I can't believe I actually finished it. Well, I hope you all enjoyed my story. Thanks for reading it. I'm glad some enjoyed it!**

**Okay, I _might_ write a third chapter with the two Flocks, but I'd need people to really want it. It would also take time since I'm going to be working on another story that I only wrote one chapter for, so Maximum Ride will have to wait for a bit. I'm also writing a prequel sort of thing that's Erika's story. I might just continue it past the point of where she meets up with these Flocks and have it show what happens in Russia in the beginning, but who knows. Not even I do yet.**

**I'm leaving tomorrow, so if I don't reply to reviews for a few days, there's a good reason! When I'm back from Canada, if my other story (Dragonriders of Pern) is written and just waiting to be edited, I might get back into Maximum Ride, so keep an eye out. In fact, if you all want me to tell you when I put up Erika's Story or another story, leave it in your review or in a PM.**

**Please review on the final chapter of my sequel, it would make me so happy. **

**Edited: 4/4/10 (Sorry the Title isn't Centered but FF decided to get stupid while I was editing.)**


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